THE 



TRUE HISTORY 



OP 



MOSES, AARON, JOSHUA, 

AND OTHERS, 

DEDUCED FROM A REVIEW OF THE BIBLE! 

ALSO, 

REMARKS ON THE MORALS OP THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, 
AND SOME OF THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 



By J. M. DORSEY, 



M It is easier to believe than to be scientifically instructed.*' — Locke. 

" He who wishes to know the truth, will require facts and good reasoning, as 
evidence whereon to ground his belief; but he who is willing to believe that 
which is most convenient, will receive more equivocal evidence." 

Condorcet, in his Life of Voltaire, says, « Though it be less glorious to combat 
vulgar errors than teach new truths to sages, it is necessary, in order to break the 
bonds of reason and open the road to truth, to prefer utility to fame." 



BOSTON: 
PUBLISHED BY J. P. 

1855. 




p"< 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 

J. P. MENDUM, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



STEREOTYPED AT THE 
BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 



CONTENTS. 



To the Reader 5 

Proemial Quotations and Observations, 12 — Religious 
Opinions, 24 — The Church, 26 — Christianity, 27 — 
Annihilation, 32 — Immortality, 34 — Schools ; Wor- 
ship, 36 — The Bible, 38 — Infidelity ; Euclid's Ele- 
ments, 43. 

Review m ^ 

Chapter 

I. — Moses's Writings — Religious Communities — 

The Bible — Creation 47 

II. — Analogy — Divisibility of Matter 52 

III. — The Productions of Nature — Testimony — Noah. 57 

IV. — Moses's God — Abraham — Isaac — Jacob — Jo- 

se P h 62 

V. — The Command, and the Tempting — Adam driven 
out of Eden — Human Existence — Proper Busi- 
ness of Man — Worship 68 

VI. — Moses 70 

VII. — The Revolt in Egypt — Moses 76 

VIII Jethro — Mount Sinai — Moses 86 

IX. — Numbering the People — Tribe of Levi — Moses's 

Guard go 

X. — Revolt of Moses and Aaron — Their Tyranny. . . 10 1 

XI. — Joshua Iqo 

XII. — Visionary Beings 117 

XIII, — The Israelites — Massacre of the Benjamites. . . 119 

(3) 



CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter 
XIV. — Sacrifices, Offerings, &c, and their evident Ob- 

ject 

XV. — The inordinate Ambition and Avarice of the 

Clergy — Church of England 132 

XVI. — David — His abominable Prayer 13 7 

XVII. — Solomon — Rehoboam U1 

XVIII. — Jesus Christ — His Apostles — Different Opin- 
ions concerning him 

XIX. — The Old and New Testaments 161 

XX. — Faith — Calvinism 

XXI. -Belief- God Jj|* 

XXH. — Time, Space, and Matter — World making. . 189 

XXIII. — Natural History of Creation — Organic Crea- 

tures and Development 192 

XXIV. — Morals of the Old Testament • 201 

XXV. — Morality of Jesus Christ and the Ancient Phi- 
losophers 

94.I 

XXVI. —Infidel — Washington 

XXVII. — Worship — Civil Government. ...... 245 

XXVIII. — The Convention that made the United States 

Constitution 249 

XXIX. — The Influence of the Clergy in Civil Govern- 

♦ .... 252 
ments 

XXX. — The American Government 255 



TO THE READER. 



In reviewing what is called the u Old Testament," 
and its offspring, the " New Testament," I treat of 
these books as they are given to the mass of the peo- 
ple. I am aware that the learned are in a continual 
uproar, and have been for at least fifteen hundred 
years, contending as to when the different books 
contained in these two Testaments were written ; by 
whom written ; and whether the writers of them 
were or were not divinely inspired ; and though the 
laboring classes have paid millions on millions of 
dollars, and millions of dollars' worth of property 
to these wranglers, (for they are generally clergy- 
men,) they are much further from being agreed now 
than they were a thousand years ago. But in one 
thing they have generally agreed — that is, in de- 
ceiving and swindling the mass of the people. 

u What makes all doctrines plain and clear ? 
Why, twice two hundred pounds a year." 

Many learned men say that none of the books of 
the Old Testament, as we now have them, were writ- 
ten until after the Jews returned from their captiv- 
ity ; and of course were not written by the persons 
1 * (5) 



6 TO THE READER. 

whose names they bear. "When their city was taken, 
it was entirely destroyed : and as their conquerors 
were pagans, it is supposed that, of course, they 
burned all the Jewish writings. And as the Jews 
that were not slaughtered were carried to Babylon, 
and kept two generations, seventy years, in slavery, 
if any of them had secretly taken any writings with 
them, it would have been nearly impossible for slaves 
to have kept those writings secret during two gen- 
erations ; and strong corroborative evidence is, that 
the principal books relate things that occurred after 
their reputed authors were dead. Most of the 
learned Jews, I believe, attribute the Pentateuch, as 
we now have it, to Ezra, but say that he was divinely 
inspired, and of course wrote the same as Moses had 
written it, except adding some explanations that 
were necessary to enable the people of his day to 
understand the text as written by Moses. These 
disputes and speculations do well enough to employ 
the learned ; they give them an opportunity to ex- 
hibit their learning to the gaze of the world and 
wonder of the ignorant, but will be of no real ser- 
vice to mankind, for these learned disputants will 
never agree. 

I have no hesitation in saying that every book of 
the Pentateuch, generally said to have been written 
by Moses, and most of the books written by his suc- 
cessors, that are imbodied in the Old Testament, 
carry on their face undeniable proof of their false- 
hood ; so that the strongest proof against any of 
them is the book itself. One of the most learned 
and orthodox defenders of the Christian canon, Rev. 



TO THE HEADER. 7 

Jeremiah Jones, published " A new and full Method 
of settling the Canonical Authority of the New Tes- 
tament," in three volumes, printed at Oxford, 1798, 
at the University press. In vol. i. p. 70-85, he sets 
down the following rules of decision : — 

That book is apocryphal which contains any con- 
tradictions ; 

Or, any histories contrary to those known to be 
true ; 

Or, any doctrines contrary to those known to be 
true ; 

Or, relations ludicrous, trifling, fabulous, or silly ; 

Or, which mentions facts that occurred later than 
the time of the author to whom it is ascribed ; 

Or, whose style is manifestly different from the 
known style of its supposed author ; 

Or, which is written in an idiom or dialect differ- 
ent from that of the author to whom it is ascribed, 
or different from the idiom of his country ; 

Or, that manifests a disposition different from the 
known disposition of the supposed author ; 

Or, that advances doctrines and opinions contrary 
to the known doctrines and opinions of the author. 

Respecting these rules, the late talented and learned 
Dr. Cooper, of South Carolina, said, "To all these 
criteria I fully assent, adding these rules : That evi- 
dence in support of a narrative must be strong in 
proportion to the antecedent improbability of the 
fact related ; a common occurrence is rendered prob- 
able by common testimony ; an uncommon occurrence 
demands much .stronger evidence to establish it." I, 
also, fully assent to these rules, including the very 



8 TO THE READER. 

just and reasonable ones added by Dr. Cooper, and 
add, first, That that book which records transactions, 
as having been done, that are unjust, tyrannical, or 
cruel, and states that those acts were done by, or by 
the command of, or by the approbation of, a wise and 
good being, — be that being called Man, Angel, Lord, 
or God, — that book is false, beyond the possibility 
of a reasonable doubt. Second, That that book 
whose principal statements, doctrines, or opinions 
are founded on the statements, doctrines, or opinions 
of a false book, or books, is also false. The whole 
of these rules are as applicable to the books of the 
Old Testament, and to any other book, as they are 
to the books of the New Testament. 

We have a great variety of declarations continu- 
ally put forth from the pulpits of the different reli- 
gious denominations of our country stating the de- 
plorable condition of those they call idolaters, — 
worshippers, they say, of false gods, — and urging 
the people to contribute money liberally ; which 
money, they say, will enable their missionaries to 
bring those idolaters to the knowledge of the " true 
God." And who is this " true God " that these pulpit 
gentry are so anxious to introduce to the acquaint- 
ance of every people ? whose introduction, so far as 
it has been made, has cost such enormous amounts 
of treasure, and of human blood, and has produced 
so much injustice, cruelty, and human misery ? and 
the expense of keeping up and extending this ac- 
quaintance is sought to be enlarged by a continual 
cry from the pulpits of Give, give, give ? Again : 
who is this God ? Why, it is Moses's, or the Bible 



TO THE READER. 9 

God. Why are these pulpit gentry so extremely 
anxious to uphold and extend the dominion of that 
God ? Because he, as far as he can, and they, al- 
ways willing to assist- him, labor incessantly to aug- 
ment the power and wealth of tyrants and clergy, 
and to trample under foot the rights and interest of 
every other member of the human family. Of the 
truth of this, I think any person who will candidly 
examine the history of that God, as recorded by 
Moses, (his maker,) will be fully convinced : but 
more presently. 

It is impossible for a finite being to really know 
or comprehend any thing with respect to an infinite. 
We say that space is infinite in extent, not because 
we understand or comprehend what we say, but be- 
cause of our incapacity to set bounds thereto ; for 
let us stretch our imagination to its greatest possible 
extent, say millions of millions of miles in every di- 
rection, and imagine the boundary there — immedi- 
ately arises the question, What is beyond that sup- 
posed boundary ? Our only answer is, Space. The 
same reasoning applies to our c«aprehension of the 
eternity of time : we send our imagination back 
millions on millions of years, if we can keep it on 
the track, and when it sinks under the weight of 
inquiry, this question starts up before us, Have you 
so far discarded reason as to suppose that there ever 
was a time when there was no time ? We then start 
forward in our inquiry ; but we are soon met by this 
query, Has common sense so little check on your 
prejudices, imbibed from a depraved education, that 
they can lead you to imagine that there ever will be 



10 



TO THE READER. 



a time when there will be no time ? Time, Space, 
and Matter are the fundamental elements of the 
Universe. We have shown, as far as finite can com- 
prehend infinite, that time and space are coextensive, 
and coeternal ; that they have existed eternally, and 
eternally will exist ; and of course are not the effect 
of any cause, for a cause must be older than its 
effect. So far as we can ascertain there is no such 
thing in nature as a vacuum ; every part of space 
that we can examine is filled with matter ; and not 
one particle of matter can we destroy. Then, rea- 
soning from what we know of matter to what we do 
not know of it, we say, As matter cannot be annihi- 
lated, it must exist eternally ; that that which will 
exist eternally must have eternally existed ; for that 
which had a beginning must have an ending — that 
which has one end assuredly has two ends. 

Again : as every part of space which we can ex- 
amine is occupied by matter, we, therefore, infer that 
those parts which we cannot examine are so occu- 
pied ; and, therefore, that matter is coextensive with 
space ; and if coextensive, necessarily coeternal ; for 
if matter ever had a beginning, be its fecundity ever 
so great, and the growth of its productions ever so 
rapid, it never can fill space. Then we are com- 
pelled to acknowledge that the fundamental elements 
of the Universe are eternal in their existence and 
extent, because we feel that it is impossible to set, 
or even imagine, bounds to time, space, and matter 
beyond which they may not go. It is quite different 
when we speak of an infinite God ; we are compelled 
to associate parts, and of course locality, with a wise 



TO THE READER. 11 

and powerful being ; we would not say that time is 
wise and powerful ; we would not say that space is 
wise and powerful ; nor would we say that matter, 
in all its ramifications and extent, is wise and pow- 
erful. But there is no difficulty in determining the 
real character of Moses's God, as his principal his- 
torians have given his general movements and trans- 
actions. According to their statements he was evi- 
dently a local being ; for Moses had him at one time 
on Mount Sinai, and set bounds around him as the 
exhibiters of wild beasts do ; and like them cau- 
tioned the people not to go too near, fearing that 
his God would break over the bounds set, and would 
kill them. At other times he had him seated on a 
gold seat, with a gold image on each side of him ; 
and at other times in other localities. They repre- 
sent him not only circumscribed in extent, but lim- 
ited in power ; deficient in wisdom and goodness ; 
extremely unjust and tyrannical. He is, therefore, a 
false God ; of course those who worship him are 
idolaters. The truth of this will, 1 think, be man- 
ifest to any person who will read attentively the 
pages of this book. 

One day in seven, it matters not whether it be the 
first or the seventh, as a holiday, is a good arrange- 
ment, if established by law for the objects that would 
make it valuable ; that is, to prevent children and 
dependents being over-worked ; and also to give the 
members of society generally time for mutual im- 
provement, And if there were a good lecture deliv- 
ered, in suitable districts, every forenoon of each 
holiday, on some natural science, such lectures would 



12 TO THE READER. 

soon be generally and cheerfully attended ; for the 
aged and the youth would readily discover that they 
were gaining real knowledge, and the expense would 
be less than one half what they now pay for hypo- 
critical know-nothing sermons. The holiday after- 
noons might be passed off in innocent amusements 
and social intercourse. The same civil laws would 
restrain the vicious on such days as on other days. 



PROEMIAL QUOTATIONS AND OBSER- 
VATIONS. 

" Man is born with the faculty of receiving sensa- 
tions. In those which he receives, he is capable of 
perceiving and distinguishing the simple sensations 
of which they are composed. He can retain, recog- 
nize, combine them ; he can preserve or recall them 
to his memory ; he can compare their different com- 
binations ; he can ascertain what they possess in 
common, and what characterizes each : lastly, he can 
affix signs to all these objects, the better to know 
them, and the more easily to form from them new 
combinations. This faculty is developed in him by 
the action of external objects, that is, by the pres- 
ence of certain complex sensations, the constancy of 
which, whether in their identical whole, or in the 
laws of their change, is independent of himself. It 
is also exercised by communication with other sim- 
ilarly-organized individuals, and by all the artificial 
means, which, from the first development of this fac- 
ulty, men have succeeded in inventing. Sensations 



TO THE READER. 13 

are accompanied with pleasure or pain, and man has 
the further faculty of converting these momentary 
impressions into durable sentiments of a correspond- 
ing nature, and of experiencing these sensations 
either at the sight or recollection of the pleasure 
or pain of beings sensitive like himself. And from 
this faculty, united with that of forming and com- 
bining ideas, arise between him and his fellow-crea- 
tures the ties of interest and duty ; to which nature 
has affixed the most exquisite portion of our felicity, 
and the most poignant of our sufferings." — John 
Anthony Nicholas Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet. 

We are indebted to Aristotle for the following 
very important and undeniable truth : " All our 
ideas originate in our sensations." Condillac ex- 
presses the same thing in the following words : "We 
distinguish as many species of ideas as we distin- 
guish different sensations ; and these ideas are either 
actual sensations or they are but a remembrance of 
the sensations we have had." 

O, hail that Day ! — " When Keason's voice, 
Loud as the voice of Nature, shall have waked 
The nations ; and mankind perceive that vice 
Is discord, war, and misery ; that virtue 
Is peace, and happiness, and harmony ; 
When man's maturer nature shall disdain 
The plaything of its childhood ; kingly glare 
Will lose its power to dazzle ; its authority 
Will silently pass by ; the gorgeous throne 
Shall stand unnoticed in the regal hall, 
Fast falling to decay ; whilst falsehood's trade 
Shall be as hateful and unprofitable 
As that of truth is now." — Percy Bysshe Shelley, 
2 



14 TO THE READER. 

Every person desirous of ascertaining the truth on 
any subject, so far as truth can be known on that sub- 
ject, will, I think, receive great assistance by attend- 
ing to the following instructions of Mr. Locke : — 

" Reading is for the improvement of the under- 
standing. The improvement of the understanding 
is for two ends : first, for our own increase of 
knowledge ; second, to enable us to deliver and 
make out that knowledge to others. I hope it will 
not be thought arrogance to say, that perhaps we 
should make greater progress in the discovery of 
rational and contemplative knowledge if we sought 
it at the fountain, — in the contemplation of things 
themselves, — and made use rather of our own 
thoughts than other men's to find it ; for I think 
we may as rationally hope to see with other men's 
eyes as to know by other men's understandings. So 
much as we ourselves consider and comprehend of 
truth and reason, so much we possess of real, true 
knowledge. The floating of other men's opinions in 
our brains makes us not a jot the more knowing, 
though they happen to be true. What in them was 
science, is in us but opiniatrety, whilst we give our 
assent only to reverend names, and do not, as they 
did, employ our own reason to understand those 
truths which gave them reputation. Aristotle was 
certainly a knowing man ; but nobody ever thought 
him so, because he blindly embraced, or confidently 
vented, the opinions of others. And if the taking 
up another's principles, without examining them, 
made not him a philosopher, I suppose it will hardly 
make any body else so. In science, every one has 



TO THE READER. 



15 



as much as lie really knows and comprehends ; "what 
he believes only, and takes upon trust, are but shreds, 
which, however well in the whole piece, make no con- 
siderable addition to his stock who gathers them. 
Such borrowed wealth, like fairy money, though it 
were gold in the hand from which he received it, 
will be but leaves and dust when it comes to use. 
How many men have no other ground for their tenets 
than the supposed honesty, or learning, or number 
of those of the same profession ! As if honest or 
bookish men could not err, or truth were to be es- 
tablished by the vote of the multitude ! Yet this, 
with most men, serves the turn. All men are liable 
to error, and most are, in many points, by passion or 
interest, under temptation to it. If we could but see 
the secret motives that influenced the men of name 
and learning in the world, and the leaders of parties, 
we would not always find that it was the embracing 
of truth, for its own sake, that made them espouse 
the doctrines they owned and maintained. This, at 
least, is certain : there is not an opinion so absurd 
which a man may not receive upon this ground. 
There is no error to be named which has not had its 
professors ; and a man shall never want crooked 
paths to walk in if he thinks that he is in the 
straight way wherever he has the footsteps of others 
to follow." 

This great and good man has herein given good 
advice, and a correct view of our duty — that is, we 
ought to use our reason and judgment in all inquiries 
and examinations between truth and error. But very 
different is the language of many of the learned, and 



16 TO THE READER. 

the would-be-thought learned, both of the present age 
and of past ages. Setting themselves up as oracles, 
they declare that the unlearned classes of society, 
and even the learned, unless they have been initiated 
into the mysteries of the Vatican, are quite incapa- 
ble of discharging, or even knowing, their duties, 
without the direction and aid of this self-constituted 
umpire between man and his duty to himself and 
to society. They also declare that there are some 
things too sacred to be investigated, or even to 
be questioned. These things, generally, are of the 
same category as the Indian philosopher's theory of 
the earth. " The earth," said that wise man, " is 
supported on the back of a very large elephant." 
" What does the elephant stand on ? " inquired one 
of his students. " The elephant," replied the learned 
philosopher, " stands on the back of an enormous 
large tortoise." " And what supports the tortoise ? " 
inquired the student. " Stop, stop," said the philos- 
opher, assuming a solemn countenance, " that is a 
sacred mystery — too sacred to be questioned." My 
reason teaches me that there is not, never has been, 
nor never will be, any thing too sacred for man to 
investigate, as far as his faculties will enable him ; 
and to draw such deductions therefrom as his reason 
and judgment, candidly exercised, shall enable him 
to arrive at, without heeding the opinions or declara- 
tions of others any further than to take such opin- 
ions and declarations into his investigation, and give 
them as much weight, in his deductions and decisions, 
as he shall think them entitled tOc . In any investi- 
gation, inquiry, or review which I shall undertake, I 



TO THE HEADER. 17 

shall use the greatest freedom consistent with can- 
dor and correct reason — no matter how sacred the 
things or personages involved may be considered. 

The review and investigation herein undertaken, I 
am aware, will be very unpopular — will be treated 
by some with pretended contempt, and by others with 
great bitterness ; yet even with these, one of my main 
objects will be accomplished in part, which is, to get 
persons to examine and to think ; for wherever that is 
done, truth will be the gainer. I am very happily sit- 
uated to what the first advocates of self-government 
were ; and to their generous self-sacrifice do I owe now 
my freedom and happiness. They not only had to 
brave contempt and ill language, but they knew that 
loss of life and fortune, and the ruin of their families, 
were the forfeiture, if those they were opposing should 
by any chance get them into their power. In the 
present case the great cry will be, " Anarchy ! The 
natural passions of mankind, which are evil contin- 
ually, will be let loose ; it is necessary to hold a stiff 
curb on the natural depravity of man," &c. Dr. 
Young, who, I suspect, was a learned, good man, but 
superstitious, bigoted, and enthusiastic, in making 
comments on some writings of Lord Bolingbroke, 
about one hundred years ago, said, ■ — 

" As to God, (they say,) the natural religion com- 
mands us to think worthily, and speak reverently, of 
him ; but as some have thought churches derogatory 
to the notions of an Omnipresent Being, so formal 
prayers and solemn services are no way necessary to 
a Being Omniscient. They present him (if with any) 
with a more sublime and philosophical devotion, 
2* 



18 TO THE READER. 

stripped of all externals, invisible as the Deity him- 
self, and, indeed, as incomprehensible to the multi- 
tude, whose religion, like themselves, must have a 
body as well as a soul, or it will evaporate into 
nothing." 

And you have made a body for your religion, con- 
sisting of costly buildings, built by the " multitude," 
and a dogmatical clergy ; which clergy will, if well 
paid for it, condescend to officiate in the costly build- 
ings, and say long prayers for the benefit of the vul- 
gar. This same Dr. Young, in a letter to a friend 
on another subject, " Life's Review," makes some 
excellent remarks, and gives some very wholesome 
advice ; among others, the following : — 

" There is nothing of which men are more liberal 
than their good advice, be their stock ever so small, 
because it seems to carry in it an intimation of our 
own influence, importance, or worth. We (for you 
approved it — we, I say) have bestowed abundance of 
it on our centaurs, which, I fear, will bring us in but 
little thanks. Let us, therefore, return from abroad, 
come to ourselves, and see if our export of wisdom 
may not be wanted at home. We have censured the 
aged ; are we not such ourselves ? Is there no folly 
to be found but at assemblies and masquerades? or 
is folly not folly because it hits our own taste ? Let 
us lay the line to our own conduct ; let us drop for- 
eign ware, and put ourselves into the scale. Yes, 
my friend ; let us make a short visit to our former 
selves. They are, indeed, great strangers, nor much 
to be liked ; yet it is a visit all should make who 
wish well to the future life." 



TO THE READER. 19 

It is known that the first advocates of self-govern- 
ment were censured and abused as persons wishing 
to favor anarchy ; about to let loose the depraved 
passions of mankind, which, it was said, would de- 
stroy all order, justice, and morality. Well, the 
people established self-government ; and it cannot 
be successfully controverted but that we have better 
order, more justice, and, at least, as sound morality 
as when we were governed by a king. So we gained 
much, besides the great saving in expense, and lost 
nothing, by getting rid of the government of the 
king. And I am convinced that we would gain 
much, besides the abolition of the expense of the 
system, by getting rid of the influence of the clergy ; 
for it is through the influence of the clergy that our 
children are taught falsehood and hypocrisy from 
their cradle to their grave. The child that is taught 
to say, " I believe," in matters which it does not un- 
derstand, is taught to lie. The child that is taught 
to pray, before it has examined, reflected, and deter- 
mined within its own mind whether praying is or is 
not necessary, is taught to act the hypocrite. Thus 
are our children taught lying and hypocrisy before 
they know the difference between good and evil ; 
and then their vices are charged to the " depravity 
of human nature," instead of being charged to a de- 
praved education. 

" Condemned to sacrifice his childish year3 » 

To babbling ignorance and empty fears." 

Matthew Prior. 

All religions eschew reason ; and as soon as Chris- 
tianity became seated in power, one of its most prom- 



20 TO THE READER. 

inent features was contempt of human sciences, with 
sometimes an inveterate persecution of them. Of 
course, wherever it became firmly established, the 
mass of the people degenerated in both knowledge 
and morals ; and in the fourteenth century, the most 
degrading ignorance, vice, and tyranny overshadowed 
and blasted reason, and with it the natural justice 
and virtue of mankind wherever Christianity ruled. 
Education being entirely under the control of the 
clergy, the minds of the children were burdened with 
religious prejudices, and reason defamed and excluded. 
Even in the nineteenth century the teachers of geol- 
ogy have been assailed and abused by the clergy, 
because their teachings are considered contrary to 
the Mosaic record ; but finding that the truths of 
geology can be no longer successfully resisted, they 
now turn round and declare that these truths are 
confirmatory evidence of the genuineness of their 
Scriptures. Previous to the sixteenth century, wher- 
ever Christianity was extended, the inhabitants of 
the country were not treated like human beings, 
because they were not Christians. They (the Chris- 
tians) received that principle legitimately from Mo- 
ses. It is said that the bones of five millions of 
human beings were strewed over the lands seized in 
the new world by the Spaniards and the Portuguese. 
Such is the morality of religion. 

Luther exposed the impositions of Popery, but 
adhered to the superstitions which had, with a little 
corruption, enabled the pope and his minions to 
practise those impositions on the people; so that 
those whom he in some measure freed from Popish 



TO THE READER. 21 

corruption still retained their superstitions, which 
occasioned them to divide into a number of sects of 
different religious dogmas, who were as intolerant 
as the Papists. They not only persecuted the Cath- 
olics, but they persecuted each other most intolerably. 
This conduct in those self-styled reformers was full 
assurance to every talented liberal person, and to all 
who, even in a small degree, exercised their reason, 
that there would be but little added to the knowl- 
edge and interest of society by favoring these fanat- 
ics. There were many talented men, though scattered 
over large countries, that rejected those superstitions, 
and all modes of formal worship, being governed by 
reason. These men considered all religions as the 
inventions of unprincipled and dishonest men, to en- 
able the interpreters thereof to tyrannize over and 
rob the people. These reasonably-minded men were 
tyrannically treated by both Catholics and Protes- 
tants, which compelled them to guard their opinions 
by secrecy. This state of society, perhaps, originated 
" secret societies," which, under such circumstances, 
were desirable, being then some small protection to 
justice and virtue ; but in the present state of civil 
society, particularly in the United States, they are 
not only useless, but absolutely injurious — and so 
are all sectarian societies ; because a majority of the 
members of each of these societies will favor a per- 
son of their own society in preference to one of 
greater merit who is not a member thereof, thus di- 
viding mankind into clans, whereas they ought to be 
considered as one family, and treated as such, the 
only distinction and preference to be in proportion 



22 



TO THE READER. 



to the individual's wisdom, virtue, and usefulness in 
general society. Moreover, these secret societies, 
and sect societies, are very often corrupters of pol- 
itics, which, of all things, ought to be held most 
sacred in a free country. 

At last some noble spirits had the boldness to de- 
clare that all authority originates in the people ; 
that the rulers, magistrates, &c, of every function 
and power, are the agents of the people, and not their 
masters ; that the people have the right to abrogate 
any or all power in their agents whenever the pub- 
lic good requires it. Althusius, Languet, Harring- 
ton, Needham, &c, investigated and boldly professed 
these opinions ; and tyrants, temporal and spiritual, 
with all their abominable injustice and cruelty, could 
never wholly smother these correct principles ; they 
would once in a while break out ; and to these out- 
breaks, and to a favorable situation for the reception 
of their influence, did the Americans owe their rev- 
olution ; and to that revolution, and a band of real 
noblemen, do we owe our liberty. 

" Hath Nature's soul, 
That formed the world so beautiful, that spread 
Earth's lap with plenty, and life's smallest chord 
Strung to unchanging unison, that gave 
The happy birds their dwelling in the grove, 
That yielded to the wanderers of the deep 
The lovely silence of the unfathomed main, 
And filled the meanest worm that crawls in dust 
With spirit, thought, and love, on Man alone, 
Partial in causeless malice, wantonly 
Heaped ruin, vice, and slavery ! his soul 
Blasted with withering curses ? placed afar 
The meteor-happiness that shuns his grasp ? 



TO THE READER, 23 

But serving on the frightful gulf to glare, 
Rent wide beneath his footsteps 1 

Nature ! — No ! 
Kings, priests, and statesmen blast the human flower, 
Even in its tender bud ; their influence darts 
Like subtle poison through the bloodless veins 
Of desolate society. The child, 
Ere he can lisp his mother's sacred name, 
Swells with the unnatural pride of crime, and lifts 
His baby sword even in a hero's mood j 
His infant arm becomes the bloodiest scourge 
Of devastated earth ; while specious names, 
Learned in soft childhood's unsuspecting hour, 
Serve as the sophisms with which manhood dims 
Bright reason's ray, and sanctifies the sword 
Uplifted to shed a brother's innocent blood. 
Let priest-led slaves cease to proclaim that man 
Inherits vice and misery, when force 
And falsehood hang even o'er the cradled babe, 
Stifling with rudest grasp all natural good." 

Percy Bysshe Shelley. 

In order to ascertain whether the Hebrew writings 
called Bible, or Old Testament, and the writings found- 
ed thereon, and imbodied in the book called the New 
Testament, were or were not written by persons in- 
spired by an infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and 
infinitely good being so to- write, I consider it only 
necessary to review, and candidly scrutinize, the 
writings of Moses ; for if they be found such as to 
evince that they were not dictated by such infinite 
being, then will the whole of these writings be di- 
vested of their supposed divine authority ; for they 
are all founded on the writings of Moses. 



24 TO THE READER. 



RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 

One of the strongest proofs against the divinity 
of these writings — except those contained in the 
writings — is, the innumerable sects and opinions 
that have been founded on them, and the hatred, def- 
amation, and persecution engendered between the 
professors, which have caused more bloodshed, mur- 
der, and rapine than every thing else that has oc- 
curred in the same time. Even now, in the middle 
of the nineteenth century, and in the free and en- 
lightened United States, there are frequently circum- 
stances taking place which clearly evince that if our 
mild political institutions did not come in between 
the different theological sects, they would soon be 
cutting each other's throats. One circumstance which 
has taken place quite recently, it being a very sol- 
emn occasion, will show the bitter feeling which ex- 
ists between them : — 

" The columns of the Delaware County (Pennsyl- 
vania) Republican have been the arena for a most 
extraordinary controversy for some weeks past. 
The facts which led to the discussion, so far as we 
can gather them, are these : The burying ground at- 
tached to the Episcopal Church at the village of 
Chester, Pennsylvania, has been used, from time 
immemorial, as a place of sepulture by families of 
various religious denominations, and of no denom- 
ination. A Presbyterian minister in that vicinity, 
having lost a family connection by death, desired 
that the burial should take place in this church- 



TO THE READER. 25 

yard, and the usual arrangements were accordingly 
made — the family of the deceased, through this min- 
ister, having invited another minister to officiate on 
the occasion. Some religious services having been 
held at the house, the procession, led by the two min- 
isters, started for the grave. On reaching the gate 
of the churchyard, however, they were met by the 
Episcopal rector, with gown and prayer book, ready 
to perform the Episcopal funeral service. The Pres- 
byterian minister, who was connected with the de- 
ceased, thinking there had been, probably, a misun- 
derstanding, politely informed the rector that the 
family had engaged the services of the clerical 
brother who had come with the procession. The 
rector, however, as it turned out, had not misappre- 
hended the tpue state of the case. He knew all 
about it, and was determined that a ' dissenting ' min- 
ister should not intrude upon his premises. The 
friend of the deceased remonstrated ; but the rector 
would not relent. As a compromise measure, we 
believe, he suggested, that after he had performed 
his funeral service, the ' dissenting ? brethren could 
proceed with what they had to say, if so disposed ; 
but read the service he would. As the circumstances 
seemed to render further resistance impracticable, 
the friends of the deceased had to yield, and the 
rector carried his point by conducting the burial in 
defiance of the wishes and arrangement of the family 
and friends ! The occurrence, as may be imagined, 
excited no little sensation, and the rector from his 
pulpit publicly defended his course. The newspaper 
strictures on his conduct, which are very severe, 
3 



26 TO THE KEAL>EK. 

seem to be from the pen of one who was born and 
brought up in the Episcopal church. We publish 
the incident as one of the ■ signs of the times. 7 Our 
Episcopal brethren are taking higher ground, and it 
is not difficult to conjecture whereunto such things 
may grow. But a short time since, as we under- 
stand, this rector was a Low Churchman." — Presby- 
terian. 

THE CHURCH. 

PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH. — BY REV. S. H. COX, JR, 

u Thus onward moves the Church of God ; 
'Tis wondrous in our eyes 5 
It flourished, though strong opposed, 

As palm trees pressed do rise. 
Ye young cadets, enlisted for the prize, 

Upon whose brow is set the cross, 
In the strength of God arise ; 

Bear ye the fruits of academic lore ; 
Hasten with them your Lord to greet \ 
O, throw your laurels at the Savior's feet 

We are the elect of God *, 
And we are marching now the desert through, 
Fair Canaan's fields in view, 
As Israel of yore, 
Our Joshua before. 
Strong heroes lead the van : 
Be true of heart, each man; 
O, as ye move along, 
For Christ, and for his holy Church, 
Let your young nerves be strong ; 
Let the red-cross banner wave ; 
Underneath its folds be brave. 
Through might of Him, the great ( I am, T 
Onward, and wear the palm I " 

Episcopal Recorder, June 29, 1844. 



TO THE READER. 27 



CHRISTIANITY. 



Some years ago I heard Thomas Belsham, D. D., 
preach a sermon in London to young people, in which 
he strongly and eloquently urged upon men the 
claims of Christianity. At the close of his sermon 
he observed, "But do not mistake me. I do not 
mean to say you will not be saved if you reject 
Christianity. I believe the man who honestly re- 
jects it is equally safe with the man who honestly 
receives it. I only regret that you lose such a mo- 
tive to virtue." I mentioned this to another Unita- 
rian minister, William Johnson Pox, who said it was 
perfectly correct, only brother Belsham had too much 
candor. Dr. Belsham, in answering Dr. John Pye 
Smith's "Person of Christ, 77 observed, that though 
the actions of Christ were unimpeachable, it did not 
follow but that he was a peccable being. In contrast 
with this I would give you a bit of old divinity, 
which is too good to be lost : — 

" Said Justice, < Man, I'd fain know what you weigh : 
If weight, I spare you ; if too light, I slay.' 
Man leaped the scale. It mounted. ' On my word,' 
Said Justice, ' less than nothing ; where's my sword ? * 
Virtue was there — her added weight would try ; 
The scale, unsunk, still kicked the beam on high. 
Mercy, the whitest dove that ever flew, 
From Calvary fetched a sprig of crimson hue ; 
Aloft it sent the scale on t'other side ; 
Man smiled, and Justice owned, ' I'm satisfied.' " 

The Presbyterian, Sept. 17, 1853. 

These extracts, being movements and opinions of 



28 TO THE READER. 

persons now living, show very clearly that the super- 
stition, fanaticism, and zealous persecution which a 
few ages ago dragged men and women to the block 
and to the stake, are now smouldering under our 
mild and just political institutions, ready to break 
out upon the peace and happiness of society when- 
ever they can get vent. " We are the elect of God : " 
" Let the red-cross banner wave ; " " Man leaped the 
scale/ 7 and though he had Virtue in with him, they 
weighed nothing ; but a small sprig, of crimson hue, 
was full weight, and gave ample satisfaction. This 
is an unequivocal declaration that virtue is of no 
worth in the estimation of their God ; that nothing 
can appease his wrath but blood : and no person who 
has a reasoning mind can be surprised at that, when 
he reflects that the God which these fanatics worship 
is the " Great I am/ 7 or Moses 7 s God — a God of in- 
justice and blood. Dr. Belsham 7 s declaration, "I 
believe the man who honestly rejects it [Christianity] 
is equally safe with the man who honestly receives 
it/ 7 was considered by his clerical brethren not fit 
for the public ear ; it was, by one who declared it 
to be true, considered too candid. And why too 
candid? Because it places honesty on an equality 
with faith. And well do the clergy know, that if 
honesty, justice, and virtue — all three together — 
be generally acknowledged to be equal to belief and 
faith, the clerical trade will soon be spoiled, and they 
will have to seek some other employment to make a 
living ; and they may not all find as easy and as 
profitable situations as they now have. 

Dr. Watts, in his Divine Songs for Children, says,— 



TO THE READER. 29 

" Not more than others I deserve, 
Yet God has given me more ; 
For I have food, while others starve, 
And beg from door to door." 

Here is a positive declaration that God is unjust ; 
that he is partial : but recollect — it was Moses's 
God that Dr. Watts worshipped. 

Now let me entreat every honest person to reflect, 
and put to his own reason this question : Is it pos- 
sible, while such opinions and declarations are beat 
into the minds of our children from their infancy by 
threats of eternal punishment, or the promise of 
great rewards, that our community can become a 
moral community ? 

If mankind are, as theologians tell us they are, by 
nature depraved and vicious, then deplorable indeed 
is their condition. Far better would it have been 
if they had never had an existence ; for if such be the 
case, there can be no hope of improvement. But 
convinced I am that such is not their condition by 
nature, but that they are such by tyrannical treat- 
ment and hypocritical education ; and if these del- 
eterious influences are removed from them, they are 
susceptible of continual and unlimited improvement. 
But yet more horribly deplorable is their situation, 
if, as theologians declare, the greater part (or if any 
of them) are doomed to eternal pain in an endless 
life ! Reflect on this position, and say whether such 
can be the arrangement of an infinitely-wise, infinite- 
ly-powerful, and infinitely-good Being ! Suppose but 
one of a hundred, or but one of a thousand, is finally 
doomed to endless torments ; no one knows but that 
3* 



30 TO THE READER. 

he or she may be the unfortunate one ; or if, as some 
theologians pretend, each one that will go to a place 
of happiness has internal evidence thereof, what is 
the situation of those who have not that evidence? 
And those who say that they have internal evidence 
of their own safety, do not know but that father, 
mother, brother, sister, child, or grandchild may be 
the unhappy one ; and let their own situation be 
what it may, can they be truly happy under such cir- 
cumstances ? 

Quite recently, in conversation with a gentleman 
on these subjects, he observed, " If a child of mine is 
sent to hell, I wish to go there too." And the 
thought of his child being so situated filled his eyes 
with tears, and choked his utterance. In that case, 
benevolent human nature rose preeminently above 
selfish, degrading theology. None but the just and 
virtuous can be truly happy ; and I cannot conceive 
that even they can be so, if they know that there is 
a fellow-being extremely miserable. It is not at all 
to be wondered at that this miserable system, theol- 
ogy, causes thousands every year to become lunatics. 
I was intimately acquainted with a family, the old 
lady of which was extremely religious ; almost her 
entire conversation, to old and young, was on that 
subject. I had some business with the old gentle- 
man, her husband, and went to see him. He was not 
at home. The old lady gave me a considerable lec- 
ture on religion, but very mild. I felt thankful to 
the old lady, for I considered that she honestly ex- 
pressed her views. Uer husband was a member of 
the same church, but very liberal, not at all enthusi- 



TO THE READER. 31 

astic. After a time the old lady died, and soon after 
the old gentleman quit the church. Some time after 
these circumstances I was at a village about twelve 
miles from the one I lived in, Mr. H., the above 
old gentleman, was there, and we started home to- 
gether, for we were near neighbors. In the course 
of our journey Mr. H. said that he had a number 
of years been a member of such a church ; that 
there were things attached to belief in that church 
some of which he did not understand, and others 
that he could not believe ; but that his wife, being 
a very zealous member, would have been very un- 
happy if he had continued out of the church ; that 
he considered peace and happiness at home most es- 
sential for the proper management of a family. 

I readily believed the statements of Mr. H., be- 
cause of corroborative evidence. There was a Ma- 
sonic Lodge which held its meetings in the village 
in which I lived, about a mile from Mr. H.'s resi- 
dence. He was said to be a Mason, but did not at- 
tend their meetings. The report in the neighborhood 
was, that Mrs. H. was very much opposed to Free- 
masonry, so much so that she wished Mr. H. not to 
attend their meetings. About this time a learned 
young gentleman of good talents came from Phil- 
adelphia and became the preacher in the church 
to which Mr. and Mrs. H. belonged. After a while 
it came out that Mr. C, the preacher, was a Free- 
mason. Some one told Mrs. H. She expressed great 
surprise ; for she considered Mr. C. a young man of 
great piety and correct habits. She concluded, there- 
fore, that if Mr. C. was a Mason, Masonry could not 



82 TO THE READER. 

be so bad a thing as she had thought it to be ; and 
she was willing that Mr. H. should attend their 
meetings. After that, and before her death, he did 
attend them. 

ANNIHILATION. 

Bailey, our old English authority, says, " Annihi- 
late ; to bring or turn to nothing ; to destroy utterly : 
all other destructions being no more than alterations, 
or changes of form, and not of matter. 77 Now, we 
have no good reason for believing that a single par- 
ticle of matter ever has been, will be, or can be 
utterly destroyed. Then, in all statements and rea- 
soning concerning matter, we have a right to say 
that there never has been, nor never will be, a par- 
ticle of it annihilated. Some persons express great 
horror at the idea of being annihilated at death, 
which they seem to think they must be unless they 
have an immortal soul ; and in order to counteract 
these unpleasant feelings, there have been many argu- 
ments resorted to, to prove that man has an immor- 
tal soul ; but I have never had any thing presented 
to any of my senses that I can consider proof, or 
even reasonable evidence, of the fact. It has been 
frequently said, that so long as a man lives, he is 
susceptible of improvement, and that other animals 
cannot be taught any thing after they become aged ; 
that man's body is matter ; that matter cannot move 
itself — therefore man must have a soul to move his 
body ; that that soul is spirit, and being spirit is 
immortal. These declarations are of the same cat- 



TO THE READER. 33 

egory as the assertion of Xenophon, that a cup of 
cold water given to a person in a fever at first ap- 
pears to do him good, but in the end makes him 
worse. This assertion, after having been received 
without examination hundreds of years as a very 
wise and positive truth, is now, after it has been, 
no doubt, the death of thousands of human beings, 
known to be an error. This shows how wrong it is 
to take the assertion of any person without strict 
examination, let him be considered ever so learned 
and wise. Seventy years may be called old age for 
a man, ninety years very old ; fifteen years we call 
old age for a horse, twenty years very old. Now, 
every person who has noticed the condition of these 
two animals in old age must know that man's mental 
faculties fail as much, generally, between seventy 
and ninety as a horse's do between fifteen and twen- 
ty ; and, as far as we can judge, man's memory fails 
more. I knew a man at, I think, about the age of 
eighty, in good health, that did not know his own 
children, whom he saw every few days. It is said 
that General Stark, who died at the age of ninety- 
four, for several years before his death, could not 
remember any thing of the revolution except the 
battle of Bennington, in which he was chief com- 
mander on the American side ; and that, as long as 
his health was good, he could relate all the proceed- 
ings in that battle without any variation of conse- 
quence from its correct history. As to the body of 
man being matter, and that matter cannot move it- 
self, and therefore must have a soul to move it, the 
argument will apply with equal force to every indi- 



34 TO THE READER. 

vidual of animated nature, from man down to what 
is arrogantly called " the mean worm that crawls in 
the dust.' 7 There is nothing naturally mean. Na- 
ture is noble, and so are all her w^orks. Where 
there is meanness, it has been generated by adverse 
circumstances : even the flea would not bite you if 
not urged by hunger, the satisfying of which is self- 
preservation, justifiable in every being. Man would 
be neither vicious nor immoral if he were not ren- 
dered such by the bad organization of society every 
where — the rule of tyrants and clergy. 



IMMORTALITY. 

Theologians say that they receive great comfort 
in this life from the idea of immortality. Now, it 
appears to me that of all persons the theologian 
can receive the least comfort from the hope of im- 
mortality ; for he cannot know, whatever may be his 
opinion, but that he may be one of those who will go 
to that eternal punishment w T hich he says is to be 
the lot of a part of mankind ; and the possibility of 
such being his fate, would, in a sensitive, well-bal- 
anced mind, it appears to me, outweigh all the an- 
ticipated pleasure that could be drawn from even a 
knowledge of his being immortal. I heard a man 
upwards of forty years of age say, that if he was 
certain of being eternally punished, he would prefer 
immortality to annihilation. That man w r as a lead- 
ing member of a religious society, a respectable and 
good member of general society, and considered 



TO THE READER. 35 

above the mass in point of judgment and talents. 
He and myself lived near neighbors some years ; our 
families became connected by marriage, so I was well 
acquainted with him ; and I cannot feel justified not 
to admit that he said as he thought at the time ; and 
if he did, it is conclusive evidence to my mind that 
he had never seriously examined his own judgment 
and scrutinized his own feelings on the subject ; but 
that, like the great mass of mankind, he suffered him- 
self to be governed more by faith than by reason. 

Mankind differ much as to what is pleasure and 
what is pain ; yet it is acknowledged by all that 
every person desires pleasure, and wishes to shun 
pain ; but that which brings neither pleasure nor 
pain cannot be very horrible. We all, I suppose, 
conclude, and perhaps correctly, that when a person 
is about to die, he has more or less pain, or at least 
some disagreeable sensations. These feelings, at the 
approach of death, will be equally the same, whether 
we be continued in sensitive existence or not ; but 
when we are dead, that is, when our bodily organs 
are destroyed, or deadened beyond restoration, then, 
of course, our sensations are destroyed, and we can- 
not feel either pleasure or pain. Therefore, if that 
be the end of our sensitive existence, death, though 
it has brought us no pleasure, rids us of all pain. 
We do not feel horror at the idea of going to sleep ; 
yet, by sound sleep, so long as it lasts, we are as com- 
pletely annihilated as we can be by death. Then, 
death is only a long sleep. If we should be contin- 
ued in sensitive existence after death, no one who 
conducts well towards the human family, and does 



36 TO THE READER. 

not worship a God of injustice, rapine, and murder 
such as Moses's God, can certainly have any thing to 
fear from an infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, and 
infinitely good God — if there be such a being. 

The lights of science and a just system of juris- 
prudence would soon point out the road to true 
knowledge if the influence of the clergy over society 
did not compel the teachers to mystify the sciences, 
and present them in a light favorable to the clerical 
trade — that of deceiving the people. And so long 
as theologians have the management of the schools 
for the education of the young, so long will the mass 
of society be hypocritical and vicious. An illustra- 
tion of this has very recently taken place in one of 
the public schools of New York. 



SCHOOLS. — WORSHIP. 

" An interesting question has recently come before 
the superintendent of common schools in New York. 
Complaint was brought against a teacher [the name 
of the teacher is given] for attempting to compel a 
boy to study and read the Protestant Testament 
against the wishes of his parents. The teacher 
punished him severely for obeying his parents' in- 
stead of her own commands, and expelled him from 
school. 77 These complaints involved three points : — 

1. May the pupils of common schools be required 
to join in prayers as a matter of school discipline? 

2. May Catholic children be required, contrary to 
their own wishes and those of their parents, to use 



TO THE READER. 37 

the Protestant version of the Bible as a reading book 
in school ? 

3. May Catholic children be required to commit 
to memory portions of the same version of the Bible 
as a part of their school exercises ? 

The superintendent has published his decision. 
He replies, " No," to the three questions. He says, 
that if the truth of the charges can be fully estab- 
lished, he will annul Miss 7 s license to teach in 

any school supported by the public money. 

This decision of the superintendent is certainly a 
correct one. Then, if prayer is not a matter of 
school discipline ; if the Bible (no matter what ver- 
sion) ought not to be required as a reading book in 
schools, the question naturally arises, Why is it not 
banished from schools, both public and private ? 
The true answer to that question is, I think, Nearly 
all the schools, both public and private, are under 
the control of the clergy. Under the present organ- 
ization of society, wealth and power are, in estimat- 
ing worth of character, set preeminently above hon- 
esty and benevolence. The clergy love wealth and 
power ; they are, therefore, anxious to support the 
Bible ; for wherever the laws or regulations of soci- 
ety will enforce Bible institutions, there the clergy 
are clothed with unjust power and much wealth. 
Both the Protestant and the Catholic versions of the 
Bible have too many obscene, unjnst, and vicious 
statements, commanded, approbated, or tolerated by 
the Bible God, to be read by youe.g persons without 
much injury to their minds. 

Worship is a personification of tyrant and slave s 
4 



38 TO THE READER. 

none but a tyrant will demand worship ; none but a 
slave can worship. All worship is idolatry. We 
have our political idols, our war idols, and religious. 
All fables, and all novels, (which are fables,) from 
iEsop's Fables down to religious tracts, are injurious 
to correct morals, by familiarizing society to a most 
degrading and injurious vice — that of lying. 



THE BIBLE. 

" The Philadelphia Register has, for some days 
past, contained a report of a discussion which has 
been going on between Professor Berg, a Lutheran 
clergyman, we believe, and one Barker, an Infidel of 
the German Materialist school of sceptics. Eight 
nights have been devoted to discussing the question 
whether the Bible is a book of divine inspiration. 

" The great marvel with us is, that such a ques- 
tion should be started, or entertained at all, in this 
enlightened age of the world, when the faith of mil- 
lions is settled, and fixed, and grounded in the divine 
origin of this most priceless of books ; and the next 
marvel is, that any respectable Protestant clergyman 
would suffer himself to be seduced into so bootless 
a controversy with any one, much less a foreign Infi- 
del, under any conceivable or possible circumstances. 
No iota of good can ever come of such a disputa- 
tion. The Infidel will be Infidel still. He seeks not 
for light, or he would resort for it to the record of 
Him who said, ' Let there be light, and there was 
light.' These scoffers wish not to be disabused of 



TO TIIE READER. 39 

their erroneous opinion?, but rather to create doubts 
in weak minds, and cause them to stumble. The old 
world is making an alarming contribution of the evil- 
disposed, God-hating, Bible-despising emissaries of 
Satan to our shores. And they should be shunned 
as lepers ; their contact is pestilential, for they 
spread moral death in their way ; they blight the 
hopes of the soul, and shed darkness of Egyptian 
night upon its pathway to immortality. What ! 
countenance these hellish emissaries of the Evil One 
in their crusade against the word of the Most High 
God ? Extend the hand of fellowship to the incen- 
diary with torch ready to fire the ark in which is 
lodged the charter of our immortality ? Monstrous ! 
folly the most insane and suicidal ! And then, if the 
Bible sinks, what remains to us ? Where are we to 
find a substitute for it? Like blotting the sun from 
the natural firmament, when this great moral light is 
put out, extinguished, what is to become of the 
world ? Where find a book with such a gospel ? 
with similar glad tidings of salvation to a ruined 
world ? Where find so gracious and merciful an ex- 
hibition of the condescension of God ? of his bound- 
less love to the family of man ? What would this 
Barker and those of his school give us instead of this 
word of the living God ? His cold, heartless, and 
bewildering materialism? a sensualism as soul-blight- 
ing as communion with the Spirit of Evil ? The bare 
idea of the fall of the Bible is too horrible, too fright- 
ful, for conception ! No, no ; away with all these 
arch enemies of our faith — our strong and abiding 
faith in the verity of God's word ! But we have no 



40 TO THE READER. 

fears. We securely rest our hope upon the affirma- 
tion of God himself, that ' heaven and earth shall 
pass away, but my word shall not pass away/ ' The 
word of the Lord endureth forever. 7 

" Why then should we doubt, or fear, or tremble, 
when the Lord himself has promised to uphold his 
word against all opposers ? Infidels may continue 
to assail, as Infidels have assailed, the Bible and its 
doctrines through all time ; but its Author's arm is 
not shortened, nor his power waxed weak, that he is 
not able and willing to preserve to the world this 
last hope — this message of mercy to the otherwise 
hopeless and despairing sons of Adam ! This day, 
thank God, the Bible is more deeply seated in the 
very heart of hearts of the people than at any time 
in the last eighteen hundred years. It has legions 
of friends, seen and unseen — millions of friends upon 
earth, and countless millions in the skies ; and what 
is more and better than all, it has God for its Au- 
thor, and God for its Defender, and the imbittered 
powers of the Prince of Darkness cannot wrest it 
from the hands of the nations of the earth. It will 
go on in its redeeming mission, carrying the glad 
tidings of joy to the uttermost parts of the habitable 
globe, until a knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea — until the Prince 
of Peace again comes to reign in millennial glory. 7 ' — 
Washington (Pa.) Reporter, February, 1854. 

The uncharitable accusations and denunciations, 
without a particle of sound reasoning or common 
sense, which run through the whole of the foregoing 
epistle, evince that its author is unjust in principle, 



TO THE READER. 41 

and vindictive in temper. And it does not at all 
surprise us to find such lack of correct principle, 
and an entire absence of charitable feeling, in those 
who worship the Bible God ; for a more unjust, vin- 
dictive, and tyrannical character than that which 
Moses has given to his God it seems almost impos- 
sible that any being can have. " The great marvel 
with us is, that such a question should be started, or 
entertained at all, in this enlightened age of the 
world. 77 That is sheer hypocrisy ; for the writer 
must know that in every age since the Bible has 
been thrust upon mankind as a divine book, there 
have every where been many among the best members 
of society — equal in learning, talents, and correct 
morals to any others — that questioned the correct- 
ness of such claim, while some unequivocally de- 
nied that that book was entitled to claim any such 
authorship ; and that in many instances those per- 
sons were most unjustly and inhumanly treated for 
being so honest as to declare the reasonable convic- 
tion of their understanding : and such tyrannical 
treatment of honest persons has made hypocrites of 
the mass of what is called civilized society. The 
truth of this position is evinced by the treatment 
that each individual receives from the officers of 
organized society, and from each other. There is 
but little weight given to the word or the oath of 
an individual if it is known that he or she is directly 
or indirectly personally interested in the matter pend- 
ing. This state of society has arisen from the fact, 
that honesty and candor have been, and now are, 
almost universally persecuted by the clergy and their 
4* 



42 TO THE READER. 

sycophantic tools. Thero are, in the course of these 
quotations, remarks, and review, some few things 
given (out of a great many of the like which have 
recently taken place) which go to show that in " this 
enlightened age of the world " the mass of mankind, 
in every country, are ridden by the clergy (who are 
" booted and spurred " by the grace of Moses's God) 
from their cradles to their graves. 

" Much less a foreign Infidel. 77 Is a foreign Infidel 
any worse than a native Infidel? We are taught 
that foreigners have not the liberty to investigate 
matters of religion or politics that we have. If so, 
and Infidelity is wrong, then the foreign Infidel is 
less blamable than the American Infidel ; but the 
whole epistle shows that the object of the writer is 
to " gull 77 all he can. That bait was put in to catch 
native " gudgeons. 77 " And then, if the Bible sinks, 
what remains to us? Where are we to find a sub- 
stitute for it? 77 There will ''remain 77 reason and 
common sense ; and good lectures on the arts and 
sciences, and on correct moral principles, will be far 
more useful than the Bible, and not more than one 
third as expensive. And reason and common sense 
teach, that, under such a system, the justice, the be- 
nevolent feelings, and the correct moral deportment 
of society would, before many years, be superior to 
what they ever can be under the teachings of the 
Bible ; and though no system governed by finite be- 
ings — and we know of none but finite beings — 
can ever become perfect, yet the system proposed, 
while continued, would ever advance towards per- 
fection. 



TO THE HEADER. 



INFIDELITY. — EUCLID'S ELEMENTS. 

The opposers of " Infidelity," as they call it, con- 
tinually hold out the idea that Infidels are not can- 
did, are not sincere. Such conduct, in such persons, 
is sheer impudence, dishonest, and an insult to the 
common sense of society. There are millions, be- 
sides the clergy, that are directly, and millions more 
indirectly, pecuniarily interested in the manufactur- 
ing and in the circulating of the Bible, and in prop- 
agating and explaining its doctrines ; and it cannot 
be successfully controverted, that, taken through all 
its ramifications, there are more persons who receive 
pecuniary interest from it than from any other one 
article of commerce in the world. And what does 
the (so-called) Infidel get for advancing his opinions ? 
He gets abuse and slander plentifully heaped upon 
him by these pecuniarily-interested hypocrites : and 
in his pecuniary matters often suffers loss. After 
monarchical government had been submitted to by 
the mass of the inhabitants of what is called the civ- 
ilized world as a divine institution hundreds of years, 
the American people took hold of it, turned it right 
side out, and exhibited its enormity to the gaze of 
mankind, and then set it aside not only as useless, 
but as absolutely injurious : and now the rest of the 
inhabitants of the whole world are preparing to fol- 
low their example. The clerical system claims the 
same authorship as does monarchical government ; 
and if it be boldly taken hold of, and its features 
candidly examined, it will be found equally as use- 



44 TO THE READER. 

less, and more injurious than monarchical govern- 
ment ; for the clergy enslave the mind, monarchy 
the body. 

It is a very common idea that it is useless to teach 
a boy that expects to be a farmer, a shopkeeper, or a 
mechanic (except some few trades) algebra and geom- 
etry ; but it is a great mistake, particularly with re- 
spect to geometry. 

A short time expended in studying Euclid's El- 
ements will create in the student a habit of close 
thinking and reasoning, that will be of great advan- 
tage to him, by enabling him to detect error, whether 
in himself or in others. Euclid's Elements, a good 
treatise on mechanical powers, and one on astron- 
omy, may be, by any industrious youth of sound 
mind, in such spare hours as his vocation may afford 
him, studied so as to be of great advantage to him 
through life, even without a teacher. The day has 
gone by, particularly in the United States, that 
bound the mass of the people to believe that none 
but those* who have the imputation of being very 
learned, and very wise, can exhibit valuable truths ; 
therefore, if those few who do think and examine 
for themselves, and who, from such examination, draw 
such conclusions as the reasoning powers of their 
minds, candidly exercised, will enable them to do, 
would be candid and resolute enough to declare, on 
all suitable occasions, their opinions, their example 
and influence would cause others to think, examine, 
and determine in the same way ; continually en- 
larging the circle until it encompasses the great 
mass of the people of the United States at least ; 



TO THE READER. 45 

and when the mass shall exercise their own reason- 
ing powers in all-important matters, they will as 
certainly set aside the influence of the clergy as they 
did that of the king. 

" Under existing disadvantages, the formation of 
a single valuable and philosophical character must be 
a rarity. On his entrance into active life, a man 
listens to the opinions in general circulation, and 
the current of fashionable applause or censure will 
wash away the very best previous instruction. His 
estimate of virtue and vice will become altogether 
debased, and adjusted to the reigning errors, even 
on the supposition that his private education before- 
hand had been excellent. But this, in all probabil- 
ity, may not have been the case ; for the instructors 
of youth are obliged, by their own interest, to incul- 
cate lessons conformable to the dominant opinions, 
and to bestow upon those precepts the name of wis- 
dom. His notions of truth and justice will, by these 
means, be perverted from the earliest period of in- 
fancy, and the whole tone of his morality will be- 
come nothing but a wretched flattery of the actual 
prejudices of the vulgar. Thus the man of surpass- 
ing energy and abilities, who under a just and nat- 
ural system would have been foremost in promoting 
the liberties of his country, becomes only the instru- 
ment of its deepest injury," 



REVI EW. 



CHAPTER I 



MOSES'S WRITINGS. — RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES. — 
THE BIBLE. — CREATION. 

In the succeeding pages I have reviewed and quoted 
Moses's writings principally, because, I believe, Jews, 
Christians, Mahometans, and Mormons declare that Moses's 
writings are, at least, as high authority as any in the Bible, 
having been, as they say, given by God himself to Moses 
in an audible and distinct voice ; whereas a large part of 
the matters related by the other writers of the Bible are 
said to have been communicated in dreams and visions, 
when the individual was either asleep or partially divested 
of his natural powers. If the history written by Moses 
was not written at the express command and information 
of a God that created and put in motion the innumerable 
bodies and systems of the Universe, and by whose power 
universal nature is sustained and regulated, then is Juda- 
ism, Christianity, Mahometanism, and Mormonism each 
false ; for they are all founded on the assumed correctness 
and divinity of Moses's history. 

A religious community cannot be a moral community, 
for all religions are destructive of justice, and therefore de- 
structive of morals. This, I think, will be manifest by a 

(47) 



48 TRUE HISTORY OF 

free, candid, and impartial examination of the precepts, 
&c, of that religion which is, in our community at least, 
declared to be the best of all religions — that is, the Chris- 
tian religion. When I speak of the Christian religion, I 
do not mean merely the precepts said to have been laid 
down by Jesus Christ, but of the commands, the demands, 
the requirements, &c, contained in what the Christians 
denominate the Holy Bible, and which they declare to be 
the word of God. 

It is declared by all Christians, I believe, that the com- 
ing of Jesus Christ upon the earth, his mission and charac- 
ter, were prophesied, or foretold, by the writers of the Old 
Testament, hundreds of years before he was born. Now, 
if, on a candid examination, we find that the passages re- 
ferred to by the guardians of Bible knowledge, as proph- 
ecies of the coming of Jesus Christ, cannot, reasonably, 
have any reference to him, or to the times in which it is 
said he lived, then will common sense declare that he is 
not the being that he is by Christians represented to be. 
Or if, on a candid examination, we cannot find any reason 
that convinces us that the said Old Testament is the word 
of God, or that it has been written by men inspired by 
God so to write, but that it is the dreams, fancies, and 
prophecies of persons not so inspired, then it must be im- 
possible for us to believe, no matter how much we desire 
so to do, that Jesus Christ is the person and character that 
he is by Christians represented to be. 

Let us examine this " Holy Bible," and ascertain whether 
it really is, or is not, the " word of God ; " for by a candid 
examination we can so ascertain. If not, then is it an un- 
necessary, unprofitable work; for unless we can ascertain 
its real character, we cannot properly judge its contents ; 
if we cannot correctly judge its contents, then it is of no 
use to us. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 49 

The first five books of the Bible were written, it is said, 
by a Jew, named Moses ; who, we are told in this " holy " 
work, was the meekest man that had lived. But from the 
history he has given of himself and his people, I feel 
bound, by justice, to place him among those arrogant, vin- 
dictive characters who, by their infamous acts of tyranny 
and injustice, have so often disgraced the character of man. 

In the beginning of his first book (Genesis) Moses gives 
a history of what he calls creation. Whether true or false, 
or whether there ever was any thing created, we have no 
means of ascertaining. If we have ever seen any thing 
created, then, when we see another thing that has like or- 
ganization, like properties, to the thing which we saw cre- 
ated, it would be reasonable for us to conclude, or believe, 
that it was also created. Yet this reasoning, in applica- 
tion, might be subject to many and great errors ; for there 
are many things that are the productions of nature, or, as 
they are generally termed, things created, that would be, 
by some persons, considered mechanical productions, the 
work of art, as having been formed or made of materials 
previously existing ; and some things that are mechanical 
productions would be classed as things created. The dif- 
ference between things made, or formed, and things cre- 
ated, is this : things made are such as are formed of mate- 
rials previously existing; things created are such things, 
if any such things there be, as have been spoken into 
existence from nothing. 

According to Moses's account neither Adam nor Eve 
were created, but were made of materials previously exist- 
ing. There is no mistake in this, although Moses appears 
to use the words made and created as synonymous. Moses 
says, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, 
after our likeness : and let them have dominion over the 
5 



50 TRUE niSTORY OF 

fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the 
cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping 
thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man 
in his own image, in the image of God created he him ; 
male and female created he them. And God blessed them, 
and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and re- 
plenish the earth, and subdue it : and have dominion over 
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over 
every living thing that moveth upon the earth." — Gen. 
i. 26-28. 

Moses says, "And the Lord God formed man of the 
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath 
of life ; and man became a living soul. And Adam gave 
names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every 
beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a 
helpmeet for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep 
to fall upon Adam, and he slept ; and he took one of his 
ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof: And the rib, 
which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a wo- 
man, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, 
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh : she 
shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man. 
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and 
shall cleave unto his wife : and they shall be one flesh." — 
Gen. ii. 7, 20-24. 

Now, from the statements which Moses makes in this 
history, it is quite clear that neither Adam nor Eve were 
created, but were made of materials previously existing. 
These statements made by Moses concerning the creation 
of things appear to me, like all other world-makings that I 
have ever met with, to be a jumble of inconsistent, ridic- 
ulous fable without a moral. And whether matter was at 
any time created, and things as we find them made thereof 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 51 

by the Creator, or whether matter eternally existed, pos- 
sessing the properties it has, and that things as we now see 
them are the results of the innumerable changes which 
have been going on through all eternity, our duty is the 
same — that is, we ought to make every sensitive being as 
happy as the nature of things and our situation will enable 
us to do. 

There have been a great many attempts made to show, 
that, reasoning from analogy, things as we now see them 
must have been, if not created, at least formed by a de- 
signer; for, it is contended, they all show design. For 
instance : it has been said that if a person who had never 
seen a watch should chance to find one in a country he had 
supposed not to be inhabited by any rational beings, he 
would, on examining the watch, change his opinion, and 
believe that it was inhabited by intelligent beings, or, at 
least, that there had been such a being there; for that 
which he had found exhibited undeniable proof of design, 
and therefore must have been constructed by an intelligent 
being. And by applying the same reasoning to man, it is 
asserted that he exhibits such undeniable proofs of design, 
that we cannot reasonably but believe, that, if not created, 
he was at least formed, by an intelligent being. 



52 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER II. 

ANALOGY.— DIVISIBILITY OF MATTEii. 

Reasoning from analogy is certainly subject to great 
error ; for interest, or prereceived opinions, will influence 
the best judgment to suppose analogy between things where 
there is none at all. I think it may be considered a gen- 
eral, if not an unexceptionable rule, that the productions 
of nature and the formations of art have no analogy be- 
tween them. In respect to the body of a man and a watch, 
though they are each a very complicated machine, and 
therefore easily put out of order, yet they are not alike in 
any of their parts, or in their composition, or in their 
powers. The body of a man has the power, in a consider- 
able degree, of adapting itself to circumstances. For in- 
stance : if a man that has been brought up in a moderate 
climate goes into a cold climate, he will suffer much ; yet, 
if he continues in that climate, in a few seasons he will not 
only not suffer, but the climate will become agreeable to 
him. Not so with a watch ; for if you expose that to cold 
for years, the same degree of cold that stopped it the first 
time you exposed it will stop it the last time. Again : the 
body of a man can, by continuous use of deadly poison, 
enable itself to take a quantity thereof, one tenth of which, 
taken at the first dose, would have certainly destroyed it. 
Not so with a watch. If on it any substance that will 
corrode or destroy any part of its moving power be used, 
ever so cautiously, commencing with the smallest portion, 
and increasing it with all possible caution, it will take no 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 53 

more, after long use, to destroy its motion, than it would 
have taken at first. Again : if any accident happens to 
the body of a man, internally or externally, if it does not 
destroy its vitality, the body has the power, in a consider- 
able degree, if not entirely, to repair the injury ; but if a 
watch be injured in any way, it has no power to repair 
itself in the least. All the productions of nature have, in 
a greater or less degree, the power of self-reparation in 
cases of injury. The crab, and some others, if you take 
off a limb, a new one will grow in its place ; if you cut 
limbs from a tree, new ones take their places, &c. ; but 
there is no work of art that can renew or repair any part 
of its own organization that has been removed or injured. 
There is another strongly-marked difference between the 
productions of nature and the formations of art : the pro- 
ductions of nature, generally, if not always, carry with 
them the means of continuing their like ; the formations 
of art never do : so, as before stated, there is no analogy 
between them. We, therefore, cannot reason from the one 
to the other as we can of such things as we find to contain 
like essences, like qualities, or like powers. 

We know so little of the properties or powers of matter, 
that we cannot say what it can or cannot do. I once heard 
a preacher undertake, in his sermon, to prove that man had 
an immortal soul ; and the principal argument he advanced, 
the one on w T hich he appeared chiefly to rely, was, that 
inert matter, as he called it, could not move itself; that the 
body of man was such matter, therefore must be moved by 
something superior to itself ; that that something was the 
soul ; that the soul was spirit, and therefore eternal. I ob- 
served to a friend, after we got out of church, whether it 

could be possible that Mr. G was so blinded by his 

prereceived opinions as not to see that his argument as 



54 TRUE HISTORY OP 

clearly established that a dog, and every other animal, has 
an immortal soul as it did that man has. 

The two following extracts will exhibit some of the prop- 
erties and powers of matter : — 

" It is utterly impossible for the mind to conceive of the 
almost infinite minuteness of an atom. A single grain of 
gold, for instance, might be beaten out so as to cover a 
square foot of space, and yet we have not approached its 
reduction to atoms. An admirable illustration by Depler, 
he would give, as he had never seen it quoted. It was 
this : Reduce a cubic inch of sulphur to fine powder, and 
you may cover with it an area of six square miles. Take 
one grain of this powder, triturate it thoroughly with 
ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk, and its presence would 
be detectable in every grain of the hundred. Take a 
grain of this and treat it in the same way with other 
ninety-nine grains of sugar of milk, and so on. At the 
third dilution, as we may call it, the powder thus resulting 
from a cubic inch of sulphur would cover two square miles 
of area; at the fifth, the empire of Austria; at the sixth, the 
whole of Asia and Africa ; at the ninth, it would cover the 
entire surface of the sun, with all its planets and their sat- 
ellites. And yet, although in every grain of this powder 
the sulphur was found to be present, we had not reduced 
it to atoms. Again : it is well known that every drop of 
putrid water, under certain circumstances, contains millions 
of animalcules, invisible except to high powers of the micro- 
scope. And every one of these animalcules is a highly-organ- 
ized being, having at least something analogous to a skeleton 
— capable of action, of pursuing, of retreating, of attack, 
and of defence. The globules of the blood of an elephant 
are perceivable only with a powerful microscope ; and the 
animalcules must have blood, and that blood must consist 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA, S 55 

of similar globules. Once more : the bovista gigantea, a 
species of mushroom, in the space of twelve hours, shoots 
up from a scarcely-perceptible germ to a plant a foot in 
diameter. Every square inch of its surface contains three 
hundred and thirty-six millions of cells, every cell, with its 
six sides, is divided from those around it by filaments of far 
more complex structure than an atom of potash — and yet 
we have not got a glimpse even of the atoms of which they 
are composed. He would confess, inquiries such as these 
inspired him with but one feeling — fear. It was as if he 
were taken by some profound astronomer far among the 
worlds that people infinite space, and he was ready to cry 
out for some one to lead him back to solid ground once 
more. One thing only gave him comfort : he knew some- 
thing higher, deeper, than those facts — it was their idea. 
These were, after all, only the letters in which the infor- 
mation is blazoned. He felt as did the deep-thoughted 
Pascal, when he exclaimed, that, although the universe 
were to crush him, he would still feel himself greater than 
the universe, for he knew that and how it was crushing 
him." — DarwirCs Lectures, 

Infusoria, or Animalcules. — "Geology unfolds great- 
er wonders in the ancient microscopic world than the mas- 
todon, dinotherium, and other huge monsters once living, 
but now extinct races upon the globe. Microscopic ani- 
mals we formerly supposed to be little more than particles 
of matter endowed with life ; recent examinations by a 
Prussian naturalist have discovered in them mouths, teeth, 
stomachs, muscles, veins, glands, eyes, and other organs. 
Their increase is truly astonishing. Ehrenberg, the pro- 
fessor, says, that of one species, a single individual is capa- 
ble of becoming, in a few days, one hundred and seventy 
billions. It will, perhaps, be thought still more wonderful, 



56 TRUE HISTORY OF 

that these animals should not only be found in a fossil state, 
but form the whole mass of rocks and of soil for miles in 
extent. Chalk, and even flint, and some of the gems are 
found, to a great extent, to be composed of animalcules. 
In a manufactory of whiting, in New York, where chalk is 
finely pulverized, and deposited in vats, the water in which 
it is immersed becomes alive with moving, acting animal- 
cules ; and it is thought by the proprietor that they furnish 
food for ducks, which spend much of their days and nights 
in the vats. A cubic inch of iron ochre is said to contain 
the remains of one billion of living, acting, producing be- 
ings. Upon the Alps, snow sometimes falls of a red color, 
and it is found that the coloring matter is composed chiefly 
of infusoria, or microscopic animals, which, however, die 
on the melting of the snow from excessive heat. Pro- 
fessor Hitch says, that, in New England and New York, 
silicious marl, occurring beneath peat svvamps, has been 
shown by Professor J. W. Bailey, of West Point, to be 
almost entirely made up of the fossil skeletons of infusoria, 
some of which appear to be identical with those found by 
Ehrenberg in Germany. Deposits of this silicious marl 
are very common in Massachusetts, and all hitherto exam- 
ined contain vast numbers of these relics ; indeed, they 
constitute nearly the whole of the deposits. When it is 
considered, as those who have examined say, that one thou- 
sand millions of these animals would together form a mass 
no larger than a grain of sand, some idea, or rather, per- 
haps, no idea, can be formed of the magnitude of one of 
these living, moving things — each furnished with the or- 
gans of life, action, and enjoyment scarcely less perfect, 
perhaps, than quadrupeds, fowls, and other animals, or 
even man, whose anatomy and mechanism we have been 
accustomed to admire, as proof of the existence, wisdom, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 57 

power, and goodness of the great Contriver and Architect." 
— Self- Instructor. 

These two extracts show, in some degree, the divisibility 
of matter. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PRODUCTIONS OF NATURE. — TESTIMONY. — 

NOAH. 

As before stated, the productions of Nature, generally, 
if not always, have the means of continuing their species, 
and in a great degree of repairing injuries ; of avoiding 
injuries ; of lying dormant in situations unfavorable to life 
to a very great length of time, — how long we know not, — 
and after thus lying, if placed in a favorable situation, of 
springing into life. We have been assured that wheat, and 
other seeds, have been found embedded with Egyptian 
mummies, and in other situations, which must have been 
lying there thousands of years ; and being placed in favor- 
able situations, have vegetated with vigor, and produced 
their kind. Frogs, and other animals, have been found 
enclosed in the body of trees, and in rocks, and other sit- 
uations, where they must have been hundreds, perhaps 
thousands, of years, and yet alive. Seeing that -Nature can 
do so much, if we proceed to reason, from analog}'' if you 
please, to what we do not know of her powers, and by so 
reasoning should come to the conclusion that she can do a 
great deal more than we know of, and that she may have 
formed, not created, things as we now find them, I do not 
know that it would be a very absurd conclusion. 



58 TRUE HISTORY OF 

Be this thing creation as it may, when or by whom done, 
or whether it was ever done, our duty is the same. The 
sum total of moral rectitude is contained in one word — jus- 
tice ; the sum total of moral obliquity is also contained in 
one word — injustice. Every word or action of a rational 
being that is just is moral ; every word or action of a ra- 
tional being that is unjust is immoral. 

Before further reviewing the histories mentioned, I will 
state a few principles, which will, upon a candid examina- 
tion, I think, be acknowledged to be true. First That tes- 
timony, no matter how positive, is not such evidence as can 
make us know that the thing testified to is true ; nor is it 
sufficient evidence on which to ground a firm belief unless 
connected with something that we do know, having some 
analogy to the thing testified to. For instance : if a man 
that I am acquainted with, and always found to be a man 
of truth, was to tell me that he this morning breakfasted 
at a certain house in Cincinnati at eight o'clock, and is 
now, as I know, in Piqua, ninety miles from Cincinnati, at 
eight o'clock in the evening, and that he rode the same 
horse the whole distance, I would certainly consider it a 
very great ride ; yet it is quite probable that I would be- 
lieve his statement. But if the same person was to make 

precisely the same statement, except that it was in — , 

three hundred miles from Piqua, I certainly could not believe 
him. If his statement was actually true I could not be- 
lieve it — and why not? Because I do not believe on testi- 
mony ; for in these two cases the testifier is the same, and 
if I believed on testimony, that is, if I considered testimony 
as evidence of the truth of the statement made, I could cer- 
tainly believe the one as easily as the other. How do we 
judge the truth or falsehood of testimony ? Testimony, in 
general, and perhaps in every case, relates, or is in some 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 59 

way connected with something, the like of which we have 
some knowledge of. For instance : in the two statements 
before made, the truth or falsehood of each appears to de- 
pend on the speed and power of the horse. We examine 
the first, and, reasoning from what we know of the speed 
and power of a horse, we conclude that, though it is a long 
distance to ride in so short a time, it might have been done ; 
and believing the man to be a man of truth, we believe his 
statement. We examine the second statement, and, rea- 
soning in the same manner, that is, from what we know to 
what we do not know, we conclude that it cannot be done ; 
and notwithstanding we have always considered the man a 
man of truth, we do not believe his statement. Then, cer- 
tainly, we do not believe on testimony, but on the reason- 
ableness of the thing testified to. 

Second. That every reasonable being, no matter how 
wise and powerful, or how ignorant and feeble, is, by his 
duty to himself and to every sensitive being, bound to do 
all the good his knowledge, power, and situation will enable 
him to do. 

Third. That in a well-regulated political society the 
only object in punishing such as violate the laws and reg- 
ulations of the society, is, or ought to be, to protect the 
lives, the property, and the liberty of the rest of the soci- 
ety, or else to reform the individual punished ; and any 
punishment that is not calculated to accomplish one or 
both these objects is improper, unnecessary, unjust, and 
tyrannical. 

Fourth. That any and every rational being who pun- 
ishes another for committing a crime which he, the pun- 
isher, could have prevented being committed, without com- 
mitting a crime himself, is a tyrant void of justice. 

In examining the histories and biographies written, or 



60 TRUE HISTORY OF 

said to have been written, by Moses, I shall commence with 
some of the actions of Noah, after he had come out of the 
ark — he being, according to Moses, the only person on the 
earth whom God cared any thing about ; for the other six 
or seven appear to have been saved because they were his : 
" But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." 

" And Noah builded an altar unto-the Lord, and took of 
every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered 
burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a 
sweet savor ; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not 
curse the ground any more for man's sake ; for the im- 
agination of man's heart is evil from his youth : neither 
will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have 
done. . . . And the sons of Noah that went forth of 
the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth : and Ham is the 
father of Canaan. These are the three sons of Noah : and 
of them was the whole earth overspread. And Noah began 
to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard : and he 
drank of the wine, and was drunken ; and he was uncov- 
ered within his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw 
the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren with- 
out. And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it 
upon both their shoulders, went backwards, and covered 
the nakedness of their father : and their faces were back- 
ward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And 
Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger 
son had done unto him. And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; 
a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And 
he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem ; and Canaan 
shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth, and he 
shall dwell in the tents of Shem ; and Canaan shall be his 
servant. And Noah lived after the flood three hundred and 
fifty years: and he died."— Gen. viii. 20, 21; ix. 18-28. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 61 

Here we have the character of the first of God's favor- 
ites after the flood. He gets drunk, and lieth naked in his 
tent. One of his sons happens to see him so exposed ; he 
told his two brothers, and they took a garment upon their 
shoulders, and entered the tent backwards, and covered 
their father, without seeing his exposed situation. But 
when this favorite awoke from his drunkenness, and un- 
derstood that his youngest son had seen him in his beastly 
exposure, he became so enraged that he pronounced the 
bitterest curse, not on his son, but on his grandson, Canaan, 
w T ho, it does not appear, knew any thing of the matter. 
And where was the necessity, the morality, the justice of 
this abominable curse, even if it had been pronounced 
against Ham, the pretended offender? but being pro- 
nounced against Canaan, it violates the fundamental prin- 
ciple of justice, — that is, each individual shall be account- 
able for his own acts only, — and becomes execrable in the 
extreme. 

6 



62 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER IV. 

MOSES'S GOD. — ABRAHAM. — ISAAC. — JACOB. — 

JOSEPH. 

I wish it to be understood, distinctly, and remembered, 
that when, in this examination, I speak of God, I mean 
Moses's God — a being, who, as appears to me, was cre- 
ated by Moses for the purpose of giving some show of 
plausibility to his account of creation, and of the origin 
and progress of the people from whom he sprang ; and to 
enable himself and his minions to humbug and enslave his 
own people, and to plunder and murder all others, of every 
nation, that his ambitious and malignant disposition prompt- 
ed him to. We will examine somewhat Moses's progress 
hereafter. 

The first act of any importance recorded concerning 
Abraham is his travelling, by the command of God, (Mo- 
ses's God,) in search of a land which he would show him. 
And notwithstanding God had expressly declared that he 
would show him a land, and bless him, and make him a 
great nation, and make his name great, and said, " I will 
bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee," 
(Gen. xii. 3,) Abraham appears not to have had confidence 
in his God ; for when in Egypt fear caused him to instruct 
his wife to lie to the people thereof, and himself did lie to 
Pharaoh. Abraham and his wife, being sent by order of 
Pharaoh out of Egypt, journeyed on to Gerar ; and having 
succeeded so well in Egypt by their lies, when they en- 
tered into Gerar they followed the same policy ; and there 



MOSES, AAKON, AND JOSIIUA. 63 

they succeeded better than in Egypt. Abraham told Abim- 
elech, King of Gerar, that Sarah was his sister, and she 
told the king that Abraham was her brother. (Gen. xx.) 
Thereupon Abimelech took her; but, as the story goes, 
God, in a dream by night, warned him that Sarah was 
Abraham's wife, and that he must restore her to Abraham, 
under penalty of death if he neglected so to do ; and in the 
mean time God afflicted Abimelech's household. As the 
story is related by Moses, Abimelech appears to have been 
a man of sound heart and clean hands, (a thing not very 
common among kings even in our day,) for he told God 
that he had been deceived by the lies of Abraham and his 
wife, and that that which he had done he had done " in the 
integrity of his heart and innocency of his hands." (Gen. 
xx. 5.) And God acknowledged that he knew Abimelech 
had so done; yet God could not or would not pardon Abim- 
elech and his household until prayed to so to do by the 
lying hypocrite Abraham. When Abraham was eighty-six 
years old, his wife's maid had a child by him. (Gen. xvi. 
16.) His wife had never had a child ; but fourteen years 
after the birth of her maid's son, his wife had a son, and 
he called his name Isaac. And the day that Isaac was 
weaned Abraham made a great feast. Sarah became very 
much displeased at some of the conduct of Ishmael, her 
maid's son; insisted on Abraham's driving him and his 
mother from the house. And early in the morning Abra- 
ham gave Hagar and her son some bread and a bottle of 
water, and sent them away, and they wandered in the wil- 
derness ; and when the water was spent, she " cast the 
child under one of the shrubs " while she went to seek for 
water. Abraham was eighty-six years old when Ishmael 
was born ; he was one hundred years old when Isaac was 
born; therefore Ishmael must have been fourteen years old 



64 TRUE HISTORY OF 

when Isaac was born ; and it was the morning after the 
great feast given at the weaning of Isaac, that Hagar and 
her son were driven out. (Gen. xxi.) As Abraham and 
Sarah were both old, and Isaac the only child his mother 
had ever had, it is reasonable to suppose that he was two 
or three years old when weaned ; at any rate, we cannot 
suppose him less than one year old when weaned. Then, 
Ishmael was over fifteen, perhaps seventeen, when he and 
his mother were driven from his father's house, and wan- 
dered in the wilderness. The assertion that a boy of fifteen 
or seventeen years old was by his mother thrown under a 
shrub while she went to seek water, is certainly a bright 
idea for an inspired writer ! But what are we to think of 
the justice and morality of Abraham, who got a woman, 
that was under his control, with child, acknowledged the 
child to be his, kept the woman and her son in his house a 
number of years, and then, on charge of a little indiscre- 
tion in the boy, turned them both off with some bread and 
a bottle of water to wander in the wilderness, when he was 
rich, and feasting sumptuously at home ? 

God told Isaac not to go into Egypt, but to dwell in the 
land which he would show him; and that he would be with 
him, and give him the land. (Gen. xxvi. 2.) And Isaac 
went to the same place where his father and mother both 
had, by the king thereof, been reproved for lying before he 
was born ; and the same king, or another of the same 
name, reigned. " And the men of the place asked him of 
his wife, and he said, She is my sister," (Gen. xxvi. 7;) 
for notwithstanding God had declared that he would be 
with him, he had so little confidence in the promises of his 
God, that he was afraid to own that she was his wife. And 
after he had been there a long time the king told him that 
the woman who had come with him was certainly his wife, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 05 

and asked him why he had said she was his sister ; and he 
answered, that he was afraid to say she was his wife. 
Though Isaac had, by lying, deceived Abimelech and his 
people, the king allowed him to remain among them, and 
told his people that if any of them touched Isaac or his 
wife, such person should surely be put to death. (Gen. 
xxvi. 11.) 

It appears to me that any person who will candidly ex- 
amine the lives of Abraham and Isaac must conclude that 
they were each very deficient in morals ; or rather, that 
they were very licentious characters. But when we exam- 
ine the life of Jacob, the son of Isaac, and grandson of 
Abraham, we find that in hypocrisy, lying, swindling, lewd- 
ness, and injustice he much exceeded his father or his 
grandfather. Jacob's first act towards his brother Esau, 
as recorded by Moses, was brutal and unjust, and therefore 
immoral in the extreme. When Esau came in very faint, 
and " at the point to die," (Gen. xxv. 5,) he requested Ja- 
cob to give him some food, which Jacob would not do, only 
on condition that Esau should sell to him his birthright, 
and swear to resign it, which Esau did — observing at the 
time, that as he was at the point to die, his birthright would 
be of no use to him. (Gen. xxvii. 19.) Jacob's second 
act was yet more atrocious than the first : that is, base 
hypocrisy and lying to his father, and cruel swindling and 
injustice to his brother ; for by his infamous deceptions he 
obtained the blessing which his father intended for, and 
supposed he v had conferred on Esau. (Gen. xxviii. 5.) 
After Jacob had committed these atrocious acts, fearing 
the resentment of his brother, he left his father's house, 
and fled to his uncle Laban, his mother's brother, where he 
was paid prettily enough in his own base coin. (Gen. xxix. 
18.) Having fallen in love with Rachel, his uncle's daugh- 
6* 



66 TRUE HISTORY OP 

ter, he agreed to serve her father seven years for her ; at 
the expiration of which, Leah, Rachel's sister, deceived 
him, and superseded her sister. (Gen. xxix. 5.) But Ja- 
cob determined not to be wholly cheated of Rachel ; he 
therefore married her also, and served her father other 
seven years. (Gen. xxix. 30.) And when Jacob and his 
father-in-law parted, Rachel stole some of her father's 
gods, (Gen. xxxi. 19 ;) and when Laban pursued, and 
charged them with the theft, Rachel, by lies and hypocrisy 
of the most shameful grade, deceived her father, (Gen. 
xxxi. 35,) so he did not find his property, though it was 
then in their possession ; and Jacob became very angry, and 
crimination and recrimination took place very freely be- 
tween him and his wives' father. Finally, Laban, know- 
ing that himself and son-in-law were both rogues, and not 
trustworthy in any respect, proposed that they should set 
up a landmark between them, and each swear not to pass 
said landmark on to the premises of the other with inten- 
tion to do harm, (Gen. xxxi. 44 :) so they parted, and La- 
ban returned home. Jacob, before his marriage, had made 
a vow which clearly showed his disposition to make con- 
tracts as favorable to himself as possible. He vowed, that 
" if God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that 
I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, 
so that I come again to my father's house in peace, then 
shall the Lord be my God : and this stone, which I have 
set for a pillar, shall be God's house : and of all that thou 
shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." (Gen. 
xxviii. 20-22.) Here was an offer which I suppose the 
veriest miser would at any time be glad to make, if he 
thought it would be acceded to ; that is, if God would give 
him a plenty of all that he should desire, he would certainly 
give back to God one tenth thereof. Jacob had two wives, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 67 

and each wife had a handmaid which she gave to her hus- 
band to be his concubine. Jacob, having women so plenty, 
became indifferent about his first wife, (Gen. xxx. 16 ;) so 
much so that she had to pay hire in order to get him to lie 
with her one night. From such parents we ought not to 
expect virtuous or moral children ; and the record showeth 
that theirs were such as it is reasonable to expect of such 
parents. Their history can be read in the Bible, and it is 
disgusting to review such trash. 

Joseph, according to the record, appears to have been 
the most virtuous and moral man of all his family, from his 
great-grandfather down to himself and brethren. Perhaps 
he owed his superiority of character to his being taken from 
his family and nation when young, seventeen years old, and 
brought up by a people of better manners and better mor- 
als than the corrupt, dishonest, and lewd Hebrews. Yet 
Joseph appears not to have had a very high regard for 
right and justice, but fully as much as is customary for of- 
ficers of government to have where kingcraft and priest- 
craft have sway. (Gen. xli. 48.) In the seven plentiful 
years he gathered up all the surplus corn; and when the 
dearth came, and the very people that had made all the corn 
that he had stored up were starving from want of corn, he 
made them first pay all their money, (Gen. xlvii. 14, 16-23,) 
then all their cattle, next all their lands, and finally them- 
selves, to be servants to Pharaoh. The clergy were there, 
as in every other country, a privileged order, (Gen. xlvii. 
22 ;) they were fed from the public cribs, gratis ; so they 
retained their property and freedom. 



C8 TRUE niSTORY OF 



CHAPTER V. 

THE COMMAND, AND THE TEMPTING. — ADAM DRIV- 
EN OUT OF EDEN. — HUMAN EXISTENCE. — PROPER 
BUSINESS OF MAN. — WORSHIP. 

By the historical account of the Hebrews, as given by 
Moses, they were directed and governed by God — he di- 
recting them where to go, and what to do, and what not to 
do. Were they well governed ? and if not, why not? They 
were governed by Moses's God — a being made by Moses, 
to be used by him as he might think would best subserve the 
interest of himself and his favorites. Then, let us exam- 
ine the acts and doings of this governor, as given by Moses, 
his maker, and see if there was any reasonable prospect 
that such a being would govern any people well. " And 
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree 
of the garden thou mayest freely eat : but of the tree of 
the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it ; for 
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." — 
Gen. ii. 16, 17. 

After God had given the above command to Adam, a 
snake, or, as Moses calls it, a serpent, went to Eve, and 
asked her if God had not forbidden her and Adam to eat 
some fruit of the garden. It does not appear that Eve 
was in the least surprised at the snake's talking, but an- 
swered him as follows : " And the woman said unto the ser- 
pent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden ; 
but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
garden God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. €9 

ye touch it, lest ye die." (Gen. iii. 2, 3.) But the snake 
told her that they would not surely die ; that God knew 
that when they ate of the fruit of that tree their eyes would 
be opened, and that they would be as gods, knowing good 
and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good 
for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree 
to be desired to make one wise, she took the fruit thereof, 
and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, 
and he did eat. (Gen. iii. 4, 5.) It does not appear that Eve 
had received any command on the subject, but it does appear 
that she received her full share of the harsh and unreason- 
able curse pronounced against all animate and inanimate 
nature on the occasion. It is said by some who pretend 
to know a great deal about the tempting of Eve, and simi- 
lar transactions, that it was not a snake that talked with 
Eve in the garden, but that it was the devil, who had 
assumed the shape of a snake. Moses says that it was a 
serpent, and gives the reason why the serpent undertook the 
business : " The serpent was more subtle than any beast 
of the field which the Lord God had made." (Gen. iii. 1.) 
Be that as it may, whether it was a snake or the devil, it, 
or he, does not appear to have had any bad design against 
Eve ; for there was nothing but the truth told her, as ap- 
pears by the declaration of God : " And the Lord God 
said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good 
and evil. And now, lest he put forth his hand, and take 
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : There- 
fore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, 
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove 
out the man, and placed at the east of the garden of Eden 
cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way 
to keep the way of the tree of life." (Gen. iii. 22, 24.) 
Some of the knowing ones say, that man would have 



70 TRUE HISTORY OF 

been immortal if he had not eaten of the forbidden fruit ; 
but according to Moses that is a mistake, for he makes God 
to give as a reason for turning man out of the garden of 
Eden, " lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree 
of life, and eat, and live forever." Reason also declares that 
he was not to be immortal because he ate ; for it certainly 
would be useless for an immortal being to eat, and therefore 
unreasonable. The whole of the story of the creation of 
Adam and Eve, and of the course which it is said God 
pursued towards them, appears to me a most inconsistent 
and absurd fable, particularly the latter part of it, that of 
sending them from the garden, with his harsh and unreason- 
able curse upon them, and upon every thing that he had 
made. 

We have been organized and brought into our present 
state of existence without being consulted as to whether it 
was our wish or not; nor have we any consciousness of 
our having existed previous to our present organization, 
which organization gives existence to our mind. Yet, I 
think, it cannot be reasonably doubted that we always exist- 
ed, that is, the particles of which we are composed always 
existed. And all that we actually know about them is, that 
after we die, their adhesiveness to each other is in part or 
entirely destroyed ; so that they enter into the composition 
of many other and differently organized bodies. That they 
do enter into the composition of other bodies of various 
organization, we know from the fact, that if the flesh of 
man is eaten by man or beast, by bird, fish, worm, or insect, 
it will sustain life and add to the growth and weight of that 
which eats it ; or if the flesh or bones of man are let de- 
compose on or near the surface of the ground, it will enrich 
the ground, so that vegetables will grow better in that 
ground than they did before such decomposition. And 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 71 

when the animals and vegetables which have thus got 
a portion of the particles of matter which had once con- 
stituted the body of a human being, are eaten by other 
animals, or are allowed to decompose on the ground, or in 
the air, these particles are further scattered; and so on. 
These facts ought to be examined and well reflected on by 
those who assert that the very same body that we have at 
death will rise again and enter into another world. If there 
be a being capable of controlling matter, and who has formed 
thereof sensitive organized beings, he must be a wise and 
powerful being : a wise and powerful being will be a good 
being, above all rivalry and selfish influence. Whatever 
such a being does will be just and right ; in other words, 
the best that can be done : for his wisdom will enable him 
to know the best ; his power will enable him, and his good- 
ness will prompt him, to do the best. 

If mankind were created or were formed of materials 
previously existing, by such a being, it appears to me they 
must have been created or formed for their own happiness ; 
for such beings as we are cannot add to infinite wisdom, or 
to infinite power^ or to infinite goodness. In short, such 
beings cannot render perfection more perfect; therefore 
mankind owe no service to such a being as is supposed by 
many to have created them. The very plain reason why 
they do not, is, they cannot render any service to such a 
being ; and worship offered to a being which renders no 
service to that being, is, to say the least, a very question- 
able duty. 

If worship is due to such a being, audible words and 
external actions appear to me a very inappropriate mode 
of rendering worship, or of making known our desires and 
opinions to a being that knows every thing, therefore knows 
our opinions, our wants, and our desires, without our 



72 TRUE HISTORY OF 

expressing them ; and he must know, better than we do, 
whether our desires ought to be gratified or not ; and as his 
goodness and love of justice must prompt him to do the 
best, it does appear to me not only useless, but absolutely 
wrong, for such beings as we are to attempt, by supplication 
or otherwise, to control or influence his action in the prem- 
ises. The being which I have described as possessing in- 
finite wisdom, infinite power, infinite goodness, and infinite 
existence, if there be such a being, which I most sincerely 
believe no human being does or ever did know, must be the 
true God — a very different being from Moses's God, who 
possessed large power, little wisdom, and no goodness or 
love of justice ; who countenanced, and sometimes com- 
manded, lying, swindling, theft, fornication, and murder ; 
who was governed by passions such as govern the worst of 
mankind, doing in his wrath that which he would afterwards 
repent of, and would swear never to do again, and would 
be swayed in his actions by prayer rendered by the worst 
of men, and by the scent of good fat meat broiling or roast- 
ing. Now, it is unreasonable to expect any people to be 
better than the God they worship ; if he be dishonest, de- 
ceptive, and cruel, it is certainly absurd to expect them to 
be honest, candid, and friendly. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 73 



CHAPTER VI. 

MOSES. 

The marriage of Moses's parents, his birth, his being 
kept hid three months by his mother, and then by her put 
on the river, &c^ &c, I pass over, (Ex, ii. 1, 3;) for 
although they were historically written by Moses, he could 
not have had any personal knowledge of the facts ; and be 
they true or false, they do not add to or take from his char- 
acter as a man. It is his words and actions after he arrived 
at the age to speak and act for himself that I wish to ex- 
amine. Moses's first recorded act, after he became a man, 
is premeditated, wilful murder. " He looked this way and 
that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew 
the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." (Ex* ii. 12.) It 
does not appear that Moses made any inquiry or examina- 
tion as to which of the two that were fighting was wrong ; 
but because one was a Hebrew and the other an Egyptian, 
he murdered the Egyptian. In reality he had no right to 
judge between them, and was very candidly told so by 
one of his countrymen the next day, when he saw two 
Hebrews fighting, and undertook to rebuke one of them. 
The man said to him, " Who made thee a prince and judge 
over us ? Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the 
Egyptian?" (Ex. v. 14.) Moses, finding that the mur- 
der was known, and that Pharaoh was about to proceed 
against him for it, left the country. (Ex. v. 15.) Moses, 
in most of his bad conduct, endeavored to screen himself 
behind the orders of his God ; but for this act, as bad almost 
7 



74 TRUE HISTORY OF 

as could be, he made no such excuse ; for it was done be- 
fore he pretended to have received any mission or orders 
from his God, and we may reasonably conclude before he 
had created his God. (Ex. iv. 29-31.) His next prom- 
inent act was the exciting an insurrection against the 
authority of Pharaoh, whose predecessors had been the 
generous benefactors of the Hebrews. It is a well-known 
fact, that most tales which are mere fables, taken altogether, 
have their origin in facts partially true. Not only is this 
the case in tales of world-making, and in the origin and 
history of ancient nations, hordes, and tribes of mankind, 
but in ancient and modern tales of fiction on every subject 
it is so. 

Moses's pretensions of having received a mission from 
God to take the Hebrews out of Egypt, and that in acting 
under that mission he was governed by the commands of 
God, I consider an entire fiction ; yet it is quite probable 
that some of the statements which he has made were par- 
tially true, but modified or exaggerated so as in his opinion 
would best subserve the ambitious and tyrannical designs 
he had formed, and most studiously persevered in. If 
we consider that the history of the difficulties between 
the Hebrews and the Egyptians is given by an individual 
of one of the parties only, without anything from the other 
party, and that that individual was an ambitious, tyranni- 
cal, and unprincipled person, (and such, I think, is shown 
to be the character of Moses by the transactions of his 
whole life, as recorded by himself,) we ought to carefully 
examine them, and cautiously receive them, if at all, to 
come any way near the truth of those difficulties. The 
most reasonable conclusions that I can come at, after a can- 
did examination, are these : — 

That the Israelites, or Hebrews, a restless and wandering 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 75 

horde, being reduced to great want, almost to starvation, 
were friendlily received by the authorities of Egypt ; treated 
generously by being furnished with lands, and every com- 
fort necessary, if properly applied, to render them happy ; 
and from the history given they became, compared with 
what they had been, a settled and industrious people during 
several generations, yet retaining their religious and clannish 
prejudices ; and the Egyptians being equally tenacious of 
their religious and political opinions, they continued to be 
two distinct people, notwithstanding their proximity and con- 
tinual intercourse. Religious prejudices always have been,' 
and are now, the bane of social and friendly intercourse 
between nations, hordes, tribes, families, and individuals. 
In a few generations, the Hebrews became numerous, and 
having retained their clannish idea of being the superior race 
of the world, — an idea common to almost all barbarians, — 
and being second only in Egypt, they would, when strong, 
of course become restless and impatient of restraint of any 
kind from others ; and the Egyptians, knowing the country 
rightfully belonged to them, and that they had the right and 
also the power to govern, and seeing the Hebrews were 
increasing much in strength, and proportionably in ambition, 
would consequently seek to restrain them, by exacting from 
them certain amounts of property or labor, or both, to in- 
crease the wealth and strength of the Egyptian government, 
and also to keep down the resources of the Hebrews, so 
that if they became internal enemies of the Egyptians, they 
might not be dangerous ones. 



76 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER VII. 
THE REVOLT IN EGYPT. — MOSES. 

It was at least fifty years from the time Moses fled from 
Egypt to escape punishment for the base murder he com- 
mitted there, until his return in order to instigate his coun- 
trymen to revolt against the legal authorities thereof. From 
the facts stated in his history, it is reasonable to believe that 
he was between twenty and twenty-five years old when he 
committed that murder ; when he instigated the revolt, he 
was eighty years old. When he fled from Egypt, he went 
to Midian, and there married the daughter of Jethro, king 
and priest of Midian, forming thereby a very important 
alliance ; for Jethro, it appears from the record, was a man 
of great experience, respectable talents, and great craft. 
He no doubt assisted Moses in laying his plans for a revolt 
in Egypt, and also in creating Moses's God. It has been 
said, that God did not create man in his own image, but 
that man created God in his own image. Moses was a 
robber, a murderer, and a vindictive tyrant, and he took 
himself as a model whereby to fashion his God. The 
Israelites appear not to have been much dissatisfied with 
their situation among Egyptians, until Moses and Aaron 
corrupted them to revolt against the legal authorities. "And 
Moses and Aaron went, and gathered together all the elders 
of the children of Israel. And Aaron spake all the words 
which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs 
in the sight of the people." (Ex. iv. 29.) 

" And afterwards Moses and Aaron went in, and told 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 77 

Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel : Let my people 
go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. 
And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his 
voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will 
I let Israel go. And they said, The Lord God of the He- 
brews hath met with us : let us go, we pray thee, three days' 
journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our 
God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence and with the 
sword. And the king of Egypt said unto them, Where- 
fore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their 
works? get ye unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, 
Behold the people of the land now are many, and ye make 
them rest from their burdens. And the officers of the chil- 
dren of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it 
was said, Ye shall not minish aught from your bricks of your 
daily task. And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in 
the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh : and they 
said unto them, The Lord look upon you, and judge ; be- 
cause ye have made our savor to be abhorred in the eyes of 
Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword 
in their hands to slay us. And after they had got some 
distance on their journey leaving Egypt, and the Egyptians 
following after them, they became sore afraid, and cried 
unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there 
were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die 
in the wilderness ? Wherefore hast thou dealt thus with 
us, to carry us forth out of Egypt ? Is not this the word 
that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that 
we serve the Egyptians ? For it had been better for us to 
serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilder- 
ness." (Ex. v. 1-5, 19-21 ; xiv. 12.) 

The foregoing quotations, taken from Moses's own ac- 
count of the rebellion in Egypt, show clearly that the 
7* ' 



78 TRUE niSTORY OP 

Hebrews were not heavily oppressed, nor much dissatisfied 
with their situation in Egypt until they were corrupted by 
Moses and Aaron — being deceived by Moses's pretended 
mission from God. 

Notwithstanding Moses's great ambition and craft, he 
lacked one very necessary qualification in him who aspires 
to be leader and director of any large body of people — 
eloquence. He was " slow of speech, and of a slow tongue." 
(Ex. iv. 10.) But it was said that Aaron could " speak 
well ; " which made it necessary for Moses to associate 
Aaron with himself in his mission ; and their subsequent 
history demonstrates that Aaron was not inferior to his 
brother in craft, if he was in courage. The miracles which 
Moses declares he and his brother wrought against Pharaoh, 
by command of God, are humbugs interlarded through his 
history to cover up his base designs as much as possible, 
which were to induce his countrymen, by declaring to them 
the great advantages and happiness they would attain in a 
foreign land, to put themselves with their families and prop- 
erty under his direction and command ; in which he, unfor- 
tunately for the people, succeeded ; for he kept them wan- 
dering from place to place until the whole generation was 
extinct — having, during all that time, made slaves and 
tools of the men in robbing and murdering every people 
he could find not well prepared to defend themselves. 

After Moses and Aaron had, by their pretended mission 
and commands from God to their superstitious clansmen, 
and the legerdemain tricks they played off before them, 
obtained their consent to leave Egypt, the next consider- 
ation must of course have been how to get them from 
under the authority of the government, for they were not 
strong enough to accomplish it by force ; they had, there- 
fore, to resort to stratagem ; and the scheme determined on 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 79 

was the pretence that it was necessary for them and their 
people to go a three days' journey into the wilderness to 
worship their God. The king did not believe them ; but 
he said, " Ye are idle, ye are idle ; therefore ye say, Let 
us go and do sacrifice to the Lord." (Ex. v. 17.) After 
considerable solicitation Pharaoh consented to let the men 
go and worship ; but that would not do ; their families 
must go also ; which Pharaoh, after some time, consented 
to. Then, as their God was a being of most violent pas- 
sions, and inveterately revengeful, requiring large bribes to 
keep his anger down, they declared they must take their 
flocks and herds, the whole of them, as they did not know 
what part he would require of them ; that it was necessary 
for them to worship him aright, " lest he fall upon us with 
pestilence, and with the sword." (Ex. v. 3.) 

This, at last, Pharaoh also granted. It is stated that he 
said to Moses and Aaron, " Rise up, and get you forth from 
among my people, both ye and the children of Israel: 
and go serve the Lord, as ye said. Also take your flocks 
and your herds, as ye said : and bless me also. And the 
children of Israel did according to the word of Moses ; and 
borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver and jewels of 
gold, and raiment. And the Lord gave the people favor 
in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them 
such things as they required : and they spoiled the Egyp- 
tians. And the children of Israel journeyed from Ra- 
meses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, that 
were men, besides children. And a mixed multitude went 
up also with them ; and flocks, and herds, even very much 
cattle. . . . And it was told the King of Egypt that 
the people fled : and the heart of Pharaoh and of his ser- 
vants was turned against the people, and they said, Why 
have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving 
us?" (Ex. xii. 31-38 ; xiv. 5.) 



80 TRUE HISTORY OF 

From the preceding extracts, and from the conduct of 
Pharaoh and his people towards the Hebrews and their 
leaders, it appears they were entirely deceived by Moses 
and Aaron as to their intended object, which was — after 
they had obtained Pharaoh's leave, and dressed their peo- 
ple richly with raiment and jewels obtained from the Egyp- 
tians, under pretence of going three days' journey to wor- 
ship their God — to proceed the three days' journey under 
that false pretence, and then to continue their journey until 
they were quite out of the power of Pharaoh and his peo- 
ple, by which they would not only obtain their independ- 
ence of Pharaoh, but would also swindle their kind neigh- 
bors of their best raiment, jewels, and other valuables, 
which they had borrowed of them under the false pre- 
tence of going to worship. By that hypocritical manoeu- 
vring, Moses and his people must have gained at least six 
days' advance of any force that Pharaoh could send in pur- 
suit of them ; for it could not be known that they " fled " 
until the fourth day after they had departed, and then only 
by those who had accompanied them; for they had the 
privilege of three days' journey. Six days the advance 
was quite time enough for them to select such routes as 
would effectually preclude Pharaoh's pursuit ; for Pharaoh's 
great parade of six hundred chariots was of no use to him 
when he reached the wilderness. The most reasonable 
conclusion is, that Pharaoh's object in pursuing the Israel- 
ites was to chastise them for their treachery ; and the ob- 
ject of his people was to again get possession of their jewels, 
their raiment, and other valuables, which the Israelites had 
swindled them of; and that they had no wish to take back 
to Egypt a multitude of semi-savages that an experience 
of about two hundred years (Moses says four hundred and 
thirty years) had convinced them could not be elevated 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 81 

to a state of civilization and moral rectitude equal to the 
other citizens. 

Rollin, in his Ancient History, says, " Egypt was ever 
considered by all the ancients as the most renowned school 
for wisdom and politics, and the source from whence most 
arts and sciences were derived. This kingdom bestowed 
its noblest labors and its finest arts on the improvement of 
mankind ; and Greece was so sensible of this, that its most 
illustrious men, as Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, even its great 
legislators Lycurgus and Solon, with many more whom it 
is useless to mention, travelled into Egypt to complete their 
studies, and draw from that fountain whatsoever was most 
rare and valuable in every kind of learning. God himself 
has given this kingdom a glorious testimony : when prais- 
ing Moses, he says of him, that he ' was learned in all the 
wisdom of the Egyptians/ 

" The Egyptians were the first people who rightly un- 
derstood the rules of government. A nation so grave and 
serious immediately perceived that the end of politics is to 
make life easy and a people happy. The kingdom was he- 
reditary ; but, according to Diodorus, the Egyptian princes 
conducted themselves in a different manner from what is 
usually seen in other monarchies, where the prince ac- 
knowledges no other rule of his actions than his own arbi- 
trary will and pleasure. But here kings were under greater 
restraint from the laws than their subjects. They had some 
particular ones designated by a former monarch that com- 
posed part of what the Egyptians called the sacred boohs. 
Thus every thing being settled by ancient custom, they 
never sought to live in a way different from their ancestors. 
No slave or foreigner was admitted into the immediate ser- 
vice of the prince ; such a post was too important to be 
intrusted to any persons except those who were the most 



82 TRUE HISTORY OF 

distinguished by their birth, and had received the most ex- 
cellent education — to the end, that, as they had the liberty 
of approaching the king's person day and night, he might, 
from men so qualified, hear nothing which was unbecoming 
the royal majesty, nor have any sentiments instilled into 
him but such as were of a noble and generous kind. For 
(adds Diodorus) it is very rarely seen that kings fly out 
into any vicious excess except those who approach them 
approve their irregularities, or serve as instruments to their 
passions. The kings of Egypt freely permitted not only 
the quality and proportion of what they ate and drank to 
be prescribed them, (a thing customary in Egypt, whose 
inhabitants were all sober, and whose air inspired frugality,) 
but even that their hours, and almost every action, should 
be under the regulation of the laws. In the morning, at 
daybreak, when the head is clearest, and the thoughts most 
un perplexed, they read the several letters they received, 
to form a more just and distinct idea of the affairs which 
w r ere to come under their consideration that day. As soon 
as they were dressed they went to the daily sacrifice per- 
formed in the temple, where, surrounded with their whole 
court, and the victims placed before the altar, they assisted 
at the prayer pronounced aloud by the high priest, in which 
he asked the gods health and all other blessings for the 
king, because he governed his people with clemency and 
justice, and made the laws of his kingdom the rule and 
standard of his actions. The high priest entered into a 
long enumeration of his royal virtues, observing that he 
was religious to the gods, affable to men ; moderate, just, 
magnanimous, sincere ; an enemy to falsehood ; liberal ; 
master of his passions ; punishing crimes with the utmost 
lenity, but boundless in rewarding merit. He next speaks 
the faults which kings might be guilty of, but supposing, at 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 83 

the same time, that they never committed any except by 
surprise or ignorance ; and loaded with imprecations such 
of their ministers as gave them ill counsel and suppressed 
or disguised the truth. 

" Such were the methods of conveying instruction to 
their kings. It was thought that reproaches would only 
sour their tempers, and that the most effectual method to 
inspire them with virtue would be to point out their duty 
in praises conformable to the sense of the laws, and pro- 
nounced in a solemn manner before the gods. After the 
prayers of the sacrifices were ended, the counsels and ac- 
tions of great men were read to the king out of the sacred 
books, in order that he might govern his dominions accord- 
ing to their maxims, and maintain the laws which had 
made his predecessors and their subjects happy. I have 
already observed that the quantity, as well as quality, of 
what he ate or drank was prescribed by the laws to the 
king. His table was covered with nothing but the most 
common food, because eating, in Egypt, was designed not 
to tickle the palate, but to satisfy the cravings of nature. 
One would have concluded (observes the historian) that 
these rules had been laid down by some able physician, 
who was attentive only to the health of the prince, rather 
than by a legislator. The same simplicity was seen in all 
other things ; and we read in Plutarch of a temple in 
Thebes which had one of its pillars inscribed with impre- 
cations against that king who first introduced profusion and 
luxury into Egypt, The principal duty of kings, and their 
most essential function, is the administering justice to their 
subjects. Accordingly the kings of Egypt cultivated more 
immediately this duty, convinced that on this depended not 
only the ease and comfort of individuals, but the happiness 
of the state ; which would be a herd of robbers rather than 



84 TRUE HISTORY OF 

a kingdom, should the weak be unprotected, and the power- 
ful enabled by their riches and influence to commit crimes 
with impunity. Different animals were sacrificed in differ- 
ent countries ; but one common and general ceremony was 
observed in all sacrifices, viz., the laying of hands upon 
the head of the victim, loading it at the same time with 
imprecations, and praying the gods to divert upon that vic- 
tim all the calamities which might threaten Egypt." 

It cannot be supposed that a people who were, as repre- 
sented in the foregoing short extracts of history, so civilized 
and moral, would be very anxious to retain among them a 
nation of demi-savages that long experience had demon- 
strated could not be divested of their clannish prejudices, 
and who worshipped a God who they feared would fall upon 
them with pestilence, or with the sword, unless they gave 
him plenty of beef and mutton. " And they said, The God 
of the Hebrews hath met with us : let us go, we pray thee, 
three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the 
Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with 
the sword. . . . Our cattle also shall go with us ; there 
shall not a hoof be left behind ; for thereof must we take to 
serve the Lord our God ; and we know not with what we 
must serve the Lord, until we come hither." (Ex. v. 3 ; 
x. 2G.) With respect to the sacrifices of the Egyptians, 
and of the Hebrews, the difference of the one from the 
other, and their apparent different objects, I will notice 
when I come to examine some of the sacrifices instituted 
by Moses. 

I have said before that the Egyptians had an experience 
of about two hundred years — Moses says four hundred and 
thirty years — with the Hebrews. To make out four hun- 
dred and thirty years, the Bible ehronologist and commen- 
tators reckon from the time that it is said, " And there was 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSIIUA. 85 

a famine in the land : and Abram went down into Egypt 
to sojourn there ; for the famine was very grievous in the 
land." (Gen. xii. 10.) The going down of Abram into 
Egypt was more than two hundred years before Jacob and 
his sons moved into Egypt to dwell there. Abram remained 
in Egypt only about a year, whereas Moses says, " Now 
the sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt in Egypt 
was four hundred and thirty years." (Ex. xii. 40.) 

Josephus says that it was two hundred and twenty years 
from the death of Isaac to the exodus out of Egypt. The 
death of Isaac took place some time before Joseph was sold 
into Egypt. Joseph was about seventeen years old when 
he was sold by his brethren ; he was thirty years old at the 
commencing of the seven plentiful years; and as Jacob 
did not move into Egypt until some time after the famine 
commenced, Joseph must have been nearly or quite forty 
years old when his father took up his abode in Egypt. If 
Josephus's declaration be correct, that it was two hundred 
and twenty years from the death of Isaac to the exodus out 
of Egypt, then it must have been something less than two 
hundred years from the time that Jacob went to dwell in 
Egypt until his offspring were taken out of that country by 
Moses and Aaron. 

Rollin states that Jacob and his family went into Egypt 
about the year before Jesus Christ 1706, and that the 
Israelites departed out of Egypt about the year before Jesus 
Christ 1510, being something less than two hundred years 
that they remained there. I consider it of very little 
importance which of these historians is nearest right. 
Josephus and Rollin no doubt honestly give what they 
considered correct history, for we can see no interest they 
could have had in doing otherwise ; but Moses's whole 
course shows that his principal object was to deceive and 
8 



86 TRUE HISTORY OF 

enslave the mass of his own countrymen, and to rob those 
of every other nation that he possibly could. 

As before observed, Moses and Aaron and their people 
must have had at least six days the advance of Pharaoh 
and his people. When Pharaoh found that a large part of 
his force, his six hundred chariots, was, by the nature of 
the country, rendered useless, he, most likely being glad 
that he was rid of the Israelites, — for he had a densely inhab- 
ited kingdom, and they had occupied a large parcel of his 
best lands, and had become restless and troublesome, — re- 
turned home, leaving them to pursue their course, which 
was, to send out spies in order to ascertain where there was 
a people not well prepared to defend themselves ; and wdien 
they had found such, to attack, plunder, and murder them. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

JETHRO.— MOUNT SINAI. — MOSES. 

I will now review some of their exploits, as related by 
Moses himself. " And Jethro, Moses's father-in-law, came 
with his two sons and his wife unto Moses in the wilderness, 
where he encamped at the mount of God : And he said 
unto Moses, I, thy father-in-law Jethro, am come unto thee, 
and thy wife and her two sons with her. And Moses went 
out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed 
him ; and they asked each other of their welfare ; and they 
came into the tent. . . . And Jethro, Moses's father-in- 
law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifice for God : And Aaron 
came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses's 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 87 

father-in-law before God. And it came to pass on the 
morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: And the 
people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. 
And when Moses's father-in-law saw all that he did to the 
people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the 
people ? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people 
stand by thee from morning unto even ? And Moses said 
unto his father-in-law, Because the people come unto me to 
inquire of God : When they have a matter they come 
unto me, and I judge between one and another, and I do 
make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. And 
Moses's father-in-law said unto him, The thing that thou 
doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou 
and this people that is with thee ; for this thing is too 
heavy for thee ; thou art not able to perform it thyself 
alone.. Hearken now unto my voice ; I will give thee coun- 
sel, and God shall be with thee : Be thou for the people to 
God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God : 
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt 
show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work 
that they must do. Moreover, thou shalt provide out of 
all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, 
hating covetousness, and place such over them to be rulers 
of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and 
rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all sea- 
sons : and it shall be, that every great matter they shall 
bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge : 
so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the 
burdens with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God 
command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all 
this people shall go to their place in peace. So Moses 
hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, and did all that 
he had said." (Ex. xviii. 5-23.) 



88 TRUE HISTORY OP 

Jethro was an old man of experience, king and priest of 
the Midianites ; of course well versed in deceiving and 
governing the people. And Moses, much approving his 
scheme, adopted it; and to prepare the people for the 
change, determined to make a great exhibition of the power 
and the w r onder of his God, and of his commands to the 
people concerning what was necessary for them to do 
towards carrying into operation the new order of things. 

Mount Sinai was made the place of rendezvous. But 
fearing that the people might have the curiosity to see and 
to know what was really going on, Moses declared it neces- 
sary to " set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it " To 
keep the people back, " lest they break through unto the 
Lord to gaze, and many of them perish," Moses gave his 
people three days' notice of his intended great show, which 
time we may reasonably suppose was used by him and 
Aaron in preparing things so as to make as imposing an 
appearance at the exhibition as possible. " And it came to 
pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thun- 
ders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and 
the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the 
people that were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought 
forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they 
stood at the nether part of the mount. And the Lord said 
unto him, Away, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, 
thou, and Aaron with thee ; but let not the priests and the 
people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he 
break forth upon them. So Moses went down unto the peo- 
ple, and spake unto them." (Ex. xix. 12-25.) And then 
Moses goes on to declare unto the people a great many 
laws and commands, which he said he had received of God 
for them, with promises of great benefits if they be but 
obedient. " Behold I send an angel before thee, to keep 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 89 

thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I 
have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice ; pro- 
voke him not, for he will not pardon your transgressions ; 
for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his 
voice, and all that I speak, then will I be an enemy unto 
thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries." 

Moses having established his new system of government, 
his first great movement under it was to swindle his coun- 
trymen out of the gold, silver, and other valuables which he 
had made them plunder from the Egyptians; for which 
purpose he put forward the following command of his God : 
" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the 
children of Israel, that they bring me an offering ; of every 
man that giveth it willingly with his heart, ye shall take 
my offering. And this is the offering which ye shall take 
of them : gold, and silver, and brass ; and blue, and purple, 
and scarlet, and fine linen, and goat's hair ; and ram skins 
dyed red, and badger skins, and shittim wood ; oil for the 
light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense ; 
onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the 
breastplate. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I 
may dwell among them." (Ex. xxv. 1-8.) 

The next most important matter with Moses, after he 
had secured to himself the gold, silver, and other valuables 
plundered from the Egyptians, appears to have been to 
make provision for his brother Aaron and his sons, which 
he did by installing them into the priest's office, to be holden 
by them and their descendants in perpetuity. Another 
very important matter was, to make sufficient and lasting 
provision for the priests and the principal officers of the 
government. This Moses did by instituting the great 
number of sacrifices and gifts, which he declared that God 
required of the people. The sacrifices of the Egyptians, 
8 * 



90 TRUE HISTORY OF 

and those instituted by Moses, were very different in the 
matter, means, and ceremonies for carrying them into effect ; 
but not more so than were the different objects intended to 
be accomplished by them severally. The object of the 
Egyptians' sacrifices, or ceremonies, was to rid the people, 
or at least to make them believe that they would be in 
part, if not altogether, rid of their sins, by having them 
placed by the priest on a beast, and they praying to the 
gods that they would visit on that beast the penalties of 
those sins ; whereas it plainly appears that Moses's object 
was to make the Hebrews pay heavily for their sins, and 
as heavily when there was no sin, thereby establishing a 
sumptuous and lasting support for the priests and principal 
officers of government. Yet there was one sacrifice, or 
ceremony, used by Moses, which appears to be identical in 
execution and object with that used by the Egyptians, ex- 
cept that the Egyptians used any beast, and Moses only 
used the goat. The sacrifice, or ceremony, of the scape 
goat, Moses evidently learned in Egypt. 

Rollin says, " Menes, whom all historians declare to be 
the first king of Egypt, was the institutor of the worship of 
the gods, and of the ceremonies of the sacrifices. . . . 
Different animals were used in different countries, but one 
common and general ceremony was observed in all sacri- 
fices, viz., the laying of hands upon the head of the victim, 
loading it at the same time with imprecations, and praying 
the gods to divert upon that victim all the calamities which 
threaten Egypt." 

"And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy 
place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, 
he shall bring the live goat ; and Aaron shall lay both his 
hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him 
all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 91 

transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head 
of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit 
man into the wilderness : And the goat shall bear upon 
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited; and 
he shall let go the goat into the wilderness." (Lev. xvi. 
20, 21.) 

To understand the object of the almost innumerable sac- 
rifices and offerings which Moses required the Israelites to 
make, it is necessary to read the history of them given by 
Moses himself, and to candidly, freely, and impartially ex- 
amine the actions of Moses and his priests in the premises. 
I think, whoever will do this, must arrive at the same con- 
clusion that I long since did, which is, that so great a pack 
of mummery, legerdemain tricks, and ceremonies of decep- 
tion cannot be found in the history of any other people. 
They are quite too numerous and lengthy for me to copy, 
but they can be read in the Bible. I will, however, copy 
some of the offerings which enabled him to swindle his 
people out of what he had made them plunder from the 
Egyptians, and of much other property : — 

" And all the congregation of the children of Israel de- 
parted from the presence of Moses. And they came every 
one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whose spirit 
made him willing-hearted, and they brought the Lord's 
offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, 
and for all his service, and for the holy garments. And 
they came, both men and women, as many as were willing- 
hearted, and brought bracelets and ear-rings, and rings, and 
tablets, all jewels of gold ; and every man that offered, of- 
fered an offering of gold unto the Lord. And every man 
with whom there was found blue, and purple, and scarlet, 
and fine linen, and goats' hair, and red skins of rams, and 
badgers' skins, brought them. Every one that did offer an 



92 TRUE HISTORY OF 

offering of silver and brass, brought the Lord's offering: 
and every man with whom was found shittim wood, for any- 
work of the service, brought it. And all the women that 
were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, and brought 
that which they had spun, both of blue, and of purple, and 
of scarlet, and of fine linen. And all the women whose 
heart stirred them up in wisdom, spun goat's hair. And 
the rulers brought onyx stones, and stones to be set for the 
ephod and for the breastplate, and spice, and oil for the 
light, and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 
The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto the 
Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made them willing 
to bring, for all manner of work which the Lord had com- 
manded to be made by the hands of Moses." (Ex. xxxv. 
21-29.) 



CHAPTER IX. 

NUMBERING THE PEOPLE. — TRIBE OF LEVI. — MO- 
SES'S GUARD. 

Moses, having gotten his Jethro-government somewhat 
established, commenced preparations for further murdering 
and plundering his neighbors, by taking an enumeration of 
his people. 

" From twenty years old and upwards, all that are able 
to go forth to war in Israel, thou and Aaron shall number 
them by their armies. As the Lord commanded Moses, so 
he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai. Those of 
Reuben, the eldest son of Israel, were forty-six thousand 
and five hundred ; of Simeon, fifty -nine thousand and three 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 98 

hundred ; of Gad, forty-five thousand six hundred and 
fifty; of Judah, seventy-four thousand six hundred; of 
Issachar, fifty-four thousand and four hundred ; of Zebulun, 
fifty-seven thousand and four hundred ; of Joseph, first, 
Ephraim, forty thousand and five hundred ; second, Manas- 
seh, thirty-two thousand and two hundred : making of Joseph 
seventy-two thousand and seven hundred ; of Benjamin, 
thirty-five thousand and four hundred ; of Dan, sixty-two 
thousand and seven hundred ; of Asher, forty-one thousand 
and five hundred ; of Naphtali, fifty-three thousand and 
four hundred : making of those that were numbered six 
hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. But 
the Levites, after the tribe of their fathers, were not num- 
bered among them." (Num. i. 3-19.) 

The dissatisfaction that so often appeared among the 
people, and their tendency to revolt against his authority, 
convinced Moses that his Jethro-government was not a full 
and infallible protection to his usurpations. He therefore 
determined to set around the priesthood and the government, 
as guards, the whole tribe of Levi, of which he and Aaron 
were a part. 

"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Bring the 
tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the 
priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall 
keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, 
to do the service of the tabernacle. And thou shalt give 
the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons ; and they are 
wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. And 
thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait 
on their priest's office ; and the stranger that cometh nigh 
shall be put to death. And the chief of the house of the 
father of the families of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abi- 
hail : these shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle north- 



94 TRUE HISTORY OF 

ward. And under the custody and charge of the sons of 
Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars 
thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and 
the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, and the 
pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and 
their pins, and their cords. But those that encamp before 
the tabernacle towards the east, even before the tabernacle 
of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron, 
and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary, for the 
charge of the children of Israel ; and the stranger that 
cometh nigh shall be put to death. All that were numbered 
of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the 
command of the Lord, throughout their families, all the 
males from one month and upwards were twenty and two 
thousand. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Le- 
vites instead of all the first born among the children of 
Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle ; 
and the Levites shall be mine : I am the Lord. And of 
those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and three- 
score and thirteen of the first born of the children of Israel, 
which are more than the Levites, thou shalt even take five 
shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary 
shalt thou take them : the shekel is twenty gerahs. And 
thou shalt give the money wherewith the odd number is to 
be redeemed unto Aaron and his sons. And Moses took 
the redemption money of them that were over and above 
them that were redeemed by the Levites : of the first born 
of the children of Israel took he the money, a thousand 
three hundred and threescore and five shekels, after the 
shekel of the sanctuary. And Moses gave the money of 
them that were redeemed unto Aaron, and to his sons, ac- 
cording to the word of the Lord, as the Lord had com- 
manded Moses. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 95 

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 
Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons 
of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers ; 
from thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old, 
all that enter into the host to do the work of the tabernacle 
of the congregation. This shall be the service of the sons 
of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the 
most holy things. And when the camp setteth forward, 
Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down 
the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it : 
and shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and 
shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in 
the staves thereof. And when Aaron and his sons have 
made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels 
of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward, after that 
the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it : but they shall 
not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are 
the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the 
congregation. And to the office of Eleazar, the son of 
Aaron the priest, pertaineth the oil for the light, and the 
sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anoint- 
ing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all 
that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. 

" All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom 
Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel numbered, after 
their families, and after the house of their fathers, from 
thirty years and upwards, even unto fifty years old, every 
one that came to do service of the ministry, and the service 
of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation, even 
those that were numbered of them were eight thousand and 
five hundred and fourscore. According to the command- 
ment of the Lord, they were numbered by the hand of 
Moses, every one according to his service and according to 



96 TRUE HISTORY OF 

his burden. Thus were they numbered of him, as the Lord 
had commanded Moses." (Num. iii. 5-51 ; iv. 1-49.) 

Moses having selected his guard, that is, eight thousand 
five hundred and eighty of his own tribe, between the ages 
of thirty and fifty years old, and appointed their duties, so 
as to protect the treasure and persons of the priests and of 
the officers of government, it then became necessary for 
him to make ample and lasting provision for their support, 
which he did in part as follows : — 

" And it came to pass the day that Moses had fully set 
up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, 
and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the 
vessels thereof, and anointed them and sanctified them, 
that the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their 
fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over 
them that were numbered, offered ; and they brought their 
offering before the Lord, six covered wagons and twelve 
oxen ; a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an 
ox ; and they brought them before the tabernacle. And 
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take it of them, that 
they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation ; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to 
every man according to his service. And Moses took the 
wagons and oxen and gave them unto the Levites: two 
wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, 
according to their service ; and four wagons and eight oxen 
he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their ser- 
vice, under the hand of Ithamar, the son of Aaron tl)e 
priest. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none, because 
the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that 
they should bear it upon their shoulders. And the princes 
offered for dedicating the altar in the day that it was anoint- 
ed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 97 

And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offer- 
ing, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar. 

" And he that offered his offering the first day was Nah- 
shon, the son of Aminadab, of the tribe of Judah. And 
his offering was one silver charger, the weight whereof 
was a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of sev- 
enty shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary : both of 
them were full of fine flour, mingled with oil, for a meat 
offering ; one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense ; 
one young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for 
a burnt offering ; one kid of the goats for a sin offering ; 
and for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, 
five he goats, five Iambs of the first year : this was the of- 
fering of Nahshon, the son of Aminadab. On the second 
day, Nathan eel, the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did 
offer. He offered for his offering one silver charger, the 
weight whereof was a hundred and thirty shekels, one sil- 
ver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanc- 
tuary ; both of them full of fine flour, mingled with oil, for 
a meat offering ; one spoon of gold, of ten shekels, full of 
incense ; one young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first 
year, for a burnt offering ; one kid of the goats for a sin 
offering; and for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, 
five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year; this 
was the offering of Natkaneel, the son of Zuar." 

The same offerings as were offered by the two above- 
named princes were offered by ten other princes, being 
twelve in the whole ; and their joint offering is thus spoken 
of: — 

" This was the dedication of the altar (in the . day when 

it was anointed) by the princes of Israel: twelve chargers 

of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold : each 

charger of silver weighing a hundred and thirty shekels ; 

9 



OS TRUE HISTORY OF 

each bowl seventy ; all the silver vessels weighed two 
thousand and four hundred shekels, after the shekel of the 
sanctuary ; the golden spoons were twelve, full of incense, 
weighing ten shekels apiece, after the shekel of the sanc- 
tuary : all the gold of the spoons was a hundred and twenty 
shekels. All the oxen for the burnt offering w r ere twelve 
bullocks, the rams twelve, the lambs of the first year 
twelve, with their meat offering, and the kids of the goats 
for a sin offering twelve. And all the oxen for the sacrifice 
of the peace offering were twenty and four bullocks, the 
rams sixty, the he goats sixty, the lambs of the first year 
sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after it was 
anointed. 

" And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou, and thy sons, 
and thy father's house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of 
the sanctuary ; and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear 
the iniquity of your priesthood. And thy brethren also, 
the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with 
thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto 
thee ; but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before 
the tabernacle of witness. I have given your priest's office 
unto you as a gift ; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall 
be put to death. And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, 
I also have given thee the charge of my heave offerings of 
all the hallowed things of the children of Israel ; unto thee 
have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy 
sons by an ordinance forever. This shall be thine of the 
most holy things reserved from fire : every oblation of theirs, 
every meat offering of theirs, and sin offering of theirs, and 
every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render 
unto me, shall be most holy for thee, and for thy sons. In 
the most holy place shalt thou eat it ; every male shall eat 
of it ; it shall be holy unto thee. And this is thine, the 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 99 

heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of 
the children of Israel : I have given them unto thee, and to 
thy sons, and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for- 
ever : every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of 
the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer 
unto the Lord, them have I given unto thee. And whatso- 
ever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring in to 
the Lord, shall be thine : every one that is clean in thy 
house shall eat of it. Every thing devoted in Israel shall 
be thine. 

" And behold, I have given the children of Levi all the 
tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which 
they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the con- 
gregation. Neither must the children of Israel henceforth 
come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they 
bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall do the service of 
the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their 
iniquity : it shall be a statute forever throughout your gen- 
erations, that among the children of Israel they have no 
inheritance. But the tithes of the children of Israel which 
they offer as a heave offering unto the Lord I have given 
unto the Levites to inherit ; therefore I have said unto 
them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no in- 
heritance. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Thus 
epeak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When you take 
of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you 
from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up a 
heave offering of it for the Lord, even the tenth part of the 
tithe. And this your heave offering shall be reckoned unto 
you as though it were the corn of the threshing floor, and 
as the fulness of the wine press. Thus ye also shall offer 
a heave offering unto the Lord of all your tithes which ye 



100 TRUE HISTORY OF 

receive of the children of Israel ; and ye shall give thereof 
the Lord's heave offering to Aaron the priest. Out of all 
your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the Lord 
of all the best thereof, even the hallowed parts thereof out 
of it. Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have 
heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted 
unto the Levites as the increase of the threshing floor, and 
as the increase of the wine press. And ye shall eat it in 
every place, ye and your households ; for it is your reward 
for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation." 
(Num. vii. 1-88 ; xviii. 1-31.) 

Moses, having alienated the whole tribe of Levites from 
the rest of the Israelites, by selecting them as guards to 
stand around and protect himself and his brother Aaron, 
and such as they might associate in the government and in 
the priest's ofHce with themselves, and by making large 
and lasting provision, to be taken from the hard earnings 
of their countrymen, for the support of those guards, he 
thereby established a government the most corrupt, tyran- 
nical, and oppressive of any government that we have any 
record of. Even those that were considered the most trust- 
worthy friends that the principal chief and the priesthood 
had were forbidden, under the penalty of death, to touch, 
or even to come near unto, the government and the priestly 
machinery, by which the principal chief and the priests 
were surrounded, until parts of that machinery were se- 
curely covered by one of the priests ; and then the priests 
directed the guards, who were also the carriers, how and 
where to carry the same, those carriers being entirely de- 
pendent for their support on the faithful performance of 
their duty according to the command given them. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 101 



CHAPTER X. 

REVOLT AGAINST MOSES AND AARON — THEIR 

TYRANNY. 

That Moses was not mistaken when he calculated on 
his usurpations being resisted, by a part of the people at 
least, is clearly exhibited by the following historical declara- 
tions : " Now, Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, 
the son of Levi ; and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of 
Elial ; and On, the son of Peleth, son of Reuben, took men ; 
and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the chil- 
dren of Israel, two hundred and ijfty of the princes of the 
assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown. 
And they gathered themselves together against Moses and 
against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon 
you, seeing all the congregation is holy, every one of them, 
and the Lord is among them ; wherefore then lift ye up 
yourselves above the congregation of the Lord?" Here 
Moses remonstrated with them, particularly with Korah. 
? And Moses said unto Korah, Hear, I pray you, ye sons 
of Levi : Seemeth it but a small thing unto you, that the 
God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation 
of Israel, to bring you to himself, to do the service of the 
tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congrega- 
tion to minister unto them? And he hath brought thee 
near to him, and all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with 
thee ; and seek ye the priesthood also ? For which cause 
both thou and all the. company are gathered together against 
the Lord : and what is Aaron, that ye murmur against him ? 
9 * 



102 TRUE HISTORY OF 

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of 
Eliab, which said, We will not come up. Is it a small thing 
that thou hast brought us Up out of a land that flowed with 
milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou 
make thyself altogether a prince over us ? Moreover, thou 
hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and 
honey, given us inheritance of fields and vineyards : wilt 
thou put out the eyes of these men ? We will not come up. 
And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the Lord, Re- 
spect not their offering. I have not taken one ass from 
them, neither have I hurt one of them." (Num. xvi. 1-15.) 
Then Moses goes on to give a long, and evidently a fabu- 
lous statement, concerning what was done with those muti- 
neers. All that can be gathered from the statements there 
made, that carry any thing like truth and reason, is, that 
the whole, the three leaders with their wives and children, 
and their two hundred and fifty followers, were put to death, 
and that that putting to death was considered by the whole 
people of Israel tyrannical and unjust. " But on the mor- 
row all the congregation of the children of Israel mur- 
mured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have 
killed the people of the Lord." (Num. xvi. 41.) And for 
that honest expression of their opinion, there were fourteen 
thousand and seven hundred more of them put to death by 
those brutal murderers, Moses and his brother Aaron, and 
by the men whom they had, by corruption and bribery, in- 
duced to support them in their usurpations and tyranny. 

Moses, having by his exactions swindled his countrymen 
and women of their gold and silver, and other valuables, 
and a large part of their flocks and herds, and having sup- 
pressed their insurrection by murdering a large number 
of them, was ready for new expeditions of murdering and 
plundering his neighbors. I shall notice but one of them, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 103 

which I think will be quite sufficient to show the mode and 
object of his operations, and to clearly demonstrate the base 
and depraved principles of the man ; after which I shall 
take some notice of the movements of Joshua, his succes- 
sor. " And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge 
the children of Israel of the Midianites ; afterwards shalt 
thou be gathered to thy people. And Moses spake unto 
the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, 
and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the 
Lord of Midian. Of every tribe a thousand, throughout 
all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. So there 
were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand 
of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. And Moses 
sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and 
Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the 
holy instruments and the trumpets to blow in his hand. And 
they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded 
Moses, and they slew all the males. And they slew the 
kings of Midian, besides the rest of them that were slain, 
namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, 
five kings of Midian ; Balaam, also, the son of Beor, they 
slew with the sword. And the children of Israel took all 
the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and 
took the spoil of all their cattle, and their flocks, and all 
their goods. And the} r burnt all their cities wherein they 
dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. And they took 
all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and beasts. And 
they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto 
Moses and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of 
the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, 
which are by Jordan near Jericho. And Moses and Elea- 
zar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, 
went forth to meet them without the camp. And Moses 



104 TRUE HISTORY OF 

was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains 
over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which were 
come from the battle. And Moses said unto them, Have 
ye saved all the women alive ? Behold, these caused the 
children of Israel to commit trespass against the Lord in 
the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the con- 
gregation of the Lord. Now, therefore, kill every male 
among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known 
a man by lying with him. But all the women-children, that 
have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for 
yourselves. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the sum 
of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou 
and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congre- 
gation ; and divide the prey into two parts between them 
that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and 
between all the congregation ; and levy a tribute unto the 
Lord of the men of war which went out to battle, one soul 
of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and 
of the asses, and of the sheep ; take it of their half, and 
give it to Eleazar the priest, for a heave offering of the 
Lord. And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take 
one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the 
asses, and of the flocks of all manner of beasts, and give 
them unto the Levites which keep the charge of the tab- 
ernacle of the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the priest 
did as the Lord commanded Moses. And the booty, being 
the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was 
six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thou- 
sand sheep, and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, 
and three score and one thousand asses, and thirty and two 
thousand persons in all, of women that had not known a 
man by lying with him. And the half which was the 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 105 

portion of them that went out to war, was in number three 
hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five 
hundred sheep. And the Lord's tribute of the sheep was 
six hundred and threescore and fifteen. And the beeves 
were thirty and six thousand, of which the Lord's tribute 
was threescore and twelve. And the asses were thirty 
thousand and five hundred, of which the Lord's tribute was 
threescore and one. And the persons were sixteen thou- 
sand, of which the Lord's tribute was thirty and two per- 
sons. And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's 
heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the Lord com- 
manded Moses. And the children of Israel's half, which 
Moses divided from the men that warred, (now the half 
that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred 
thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five 
hundred sheep, and thirty and six thousand beeves, and 
thirty thousand and five hundred asses, and sixteen thou- 
sand persons,) even the children of Israel's half, Moses 
took one portion of fifty, both of man and beast, and gave 
them to the Levites, which kept the charge of the taber- 
nacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses. And 
the officers which were over thousands of the hosts, the 
captains over thousands, and the captains over hundreds, 
came near unto Moses. And they said unto Moses, Thy 
servants have taken the sum of the men of war, which are 
under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. 
We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what 
every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and brace- 
lets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for 
our souls before the Lord. And Moses and Eleazar the 
priest took thegold of them, even all wrought jewels. And 
all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, 
of the captains over thousands, and the captains over hun- 



10G TRUE HISTORY OF 

dreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and Mty shekels. 
(For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for him- 
self.) And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of 
the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and brought 
it into the tabernacle of the congregation for a memorial 
for the children of Israel before the Lord." (Num. xxxi. 
1-54.) 

That was the last of Moses's great military, or more 
properly murderous, expeditions ; after which he resigned 
his exalted situation, and installed Joshua chief murderer. 
Now, let any reasonable being, whether his or her intellect, 
education, and opportunity for gaining information be large 
or small, candidly and freely examine and meditate on that 
closing scene of Moses's long and abominably wicked ca- 
reer, and determine within his or her own mind whether it 
is possible for him or her to worship a being, be he called 
King, Majesty, God, or any other great name, who would 
order and participate in such most infamous transactions as 
are here recorded. But is any person at liberty to candidly 
and freely examine any thing contained in that book called 
by Jews, Christians, Mahometans, and Mormons the " Holy 
Bible," while ten thousand times ten thousand clergy, and 
the tools of clergy, are continually screaming into the ears 
of the people that if they dare doubt the truth of any thing 
contained in that " holy book " they will be cast into hell, 
and there punished in burning brimstone to all eternity ? 
Moses, as a law maker, was a compound of much bad and 
little good. Some few of his laws are tolerably good, when 
we consider the state of society at the time they were made ; 
many of them bad in any state of society ; very few mild ; 
a very large number unjust and tyrannical, some in the ex- 
treme. One of the last description I will give, and (hen 
W Moses sleep, at least for the present, with the other base 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 107 

tyrants, the giving of whose history to the world has tended 
much to corrupt and brutalize mankind. 

" If there be found among you, within any of thy gates 
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman that 
hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the Lord thy God, 
in transgressing his covenant, and have gone and served 
other gods, and worshipped them, either sun, or moon, or any 
of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it 
be told to thee, and thou hast heard it, and inquired dili- 
gently, and behold it be true, and the thing certain, that 
such abomination is wrought in Israel, then shalt thou bring 
forth that man or that woman which have committed that 
wicked thing unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, 
and shalt stone them with stones till they die." (Deut. 
xvii. 2.) 

Such is one of the many of Moses's unjust and cruel 
laws — a barbarous and painful death inflicted upon men and 
women for daring to worship otherwise than he had com- 
manded ; and the deleterious effect on morals of that and 
such like abominable laws are working injustice, corruption, 
and misery in every civilized country on earth at this day. 



108 TRUE HISTORY OP 



CHAPTER XI. 

JOSHUA. 

Joshua, in planning and in executing his first expedition 
against his neighbors, showed himself a worthy successor 
of his prototype, Moses. 

" And Joshua, the son of Nun, sent out of Shittim two 
men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho ; 
and they went, and came into a harlot's house, named Ra- 
hab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, 
saying, Behold there came men in hither to-night of the 
children of Israel to search out the country. And the king 
of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that 
are come to thee which are entered into thy house, for they 
came to search out all the country. And the woman took 
the two men and hid them, and said thus : There came men 
unto me, but I wist not whence they were. And it came to 
pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, 
that the men went out : whither the men went I wot not : 
pursue after them quickly, for ye shall overtake them. But 
she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid 
them within the stalks of flax which she had laid in order 
upon the roof. And the men pursued after them the way 
to Jordan unto the fords ; and as soon as they which pur- 
sued were gone out, they shut the gate. And before they 
were lain down she came up unto them upon the roof, and 
she said unto the men, I know that the Lord hath given 
you the land, and that our terror is fallen upon us, and that 
all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you; for 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 109 

we have heard how the Lord dried up the waters of the 
Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt, and what ye 
did to the two kings of the Amorites that were on the other 
side of Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. 
And as soon as we heard these things our hearts did melt, 
neither did there remain any more courage in any man be- 
cause of you ; for the Lord your God he is God in heaven 
above and in the earth beneath. Now, therefore, I pray 
you, swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you 
kindness, that you will show kindness unto my father's 
house, and give me a true token ; and that ye will save 
alive my father, and my mother, and my brethren, and my 
sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from 
death. 

" And the men answered her, Our life for yours if ye 
utter not this our business. And it shall be when the Lord 
hath given us the land that we will deal kindly and truly 
with thee. Then she let them down by a cord through the 
window ; for her house was upon the town wall, and she 
dwelt upon the wall. And she said unto them, Get you to 
the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you, and hide your- 
selves there three days, until the pursuers be returned ; 
and afterward may ye go your way. And the men said 
unto her, We will be blameless of this thine oath which 
thou hast made us swear. Behold, when we come into the 
land thou shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the win- 
dow which thou didst let us down by; and thou shalt bring 
thy father, and thy mother, and thy brethren, and ail thy 
father's household, home unto thee. And it shall be that 
whosoever shall go out of the doors of thy house into the 
street, his blood shall be upon his head, and we will be 
guiltless ; and whosoever shall be with thee in the house, 
his blood shall be on our head if any hand be upon him ; 
10 



110 TRUE HISTORY OF 

and if thou utter this our business, then we will be quit of 
thine oath which thou hast made us to swear. And she 
said, According unto your words, so be it. And she sent 
them away, and they departed : and she bound the scarlet 
line in the window. And they went, and came into the 
mountain, and abode there three days, until the pursuers 
returned ; and the pursuers sought them throughout all the 
way, but found them not. So the two men returned, and 
descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to 
Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all things that befell 
them. And they said unto Joshua, Truly the Lord hath 
delivered into our hands all the land, for even all the in- 
habitants do faint because of us." 

" Now Jericho was straitly shut up, because of the chil- 
dren of Israel: none went out, and none came in. And 
Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priest took up 
the ark of the Lord. And seven priests bearing seven 
trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord went 
on continually, and blew with the trumpets ; and the armed 
men went before them ; but the rearward came after the 
ark of the Lord, the priests going on and blowing with the 
trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city 
once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days. 
And it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose 
early, about the dawning of the day, and compassed the 
city seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, 
when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said unto the 
people, Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city ; and 
the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, 
to the Lord : only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all 
that are with her in the house, because she hid the messen- 
gers that we sent. And ye in any wise keep yourselves 
from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. Ill 

when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of 
Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, 
and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the 
Lord : they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. So 
the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. 
And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of 
the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that 
the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the 
city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 
And they utterly destroyed all that were in the city, both 
man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and 
ass, with the edge of the sword. But Joshua had said unto 
the men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot's 
house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she 
hath, as ye sware unto her. And the young men that were 
spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and 
her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had ; and 
they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the 
camp of Israel. And they burnt the city with fire, and all 
that was therein : only the silver and gold, and the vessels 
of brass and of iron, they put into the treasury of the house 
of the Lord. And Joshua saved Rahab the harlot alive, 
and her father's household, and all that she had ; and she 
dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the 
messengers which Joshua sent to spy out Jericho." 

" Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves 
against to-morrow, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel : 
thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take 
away the accursed thing from among you. In the morning, 
therefore, ye shall be brought according to your tribes ; and 
it shall be that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come 
according to the families thereof ; and the family which the 



112 TRUE HISTORY OF 

Lord shall take shall come by households ; and the house- 
hold which the Lord shall take shall come man by man ; 
and it shall be that he that is taken with the accursed thing 
shall be burnt with fire, he and all he hath, because he hath 
transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath 
wrought folly in Israel. So Joshua rose up early in the 
morning, and brought Israel by their tribes ; and the tribe 
of Judah was taken. And he brought the family of Judah : 
and he took the family of the Zarhites : and he brought the 
family of the Zarhites man by man ; and Zabdi was taken : 
and he brought his household man by man ; and Achan the 
son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe 
of Judah, was taken. And Joshua said unto Achan, My 
son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and 
make confession unto him ; and tell me now what thou hast 
done : hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, 
and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of 
Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among 
the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred 
shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels 
weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold 
they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the 
silver under it. So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran 
unto the tent, and behold it was hid in his tent, and the 
silver under it. And they took them out of the midst of 
the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto the chil- 
dren of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. And 
Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of 
Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of 
gold, and his sons and daughters, and his oxen, and his 
asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had : and 
they brought them unto the valley of Achor. And Joshua 
said, Why hast thou troubled us ? the Lord shall trouble 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 113 

you this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and 
burned them with fire after they had stoned them with 
stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones 
unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of 
his anger : wherefore the name of that place was called, 
The Valley of Achor, unto this day." (Joshua ii. 1-24 ; vi. 
1-25; vii. 13-26.) 

Here is the first expedition of Joshua against his neigh- 
bors. A treaty made by two spies of the one side, and a 
traitorous harlot of the other side, delivered up to the 
brute commander of the first side a large and wealthy city 
belonging to the king and people of the second side ; and 
the inhabitants of the city were inhumanly butchered, — 
men, women, and children ; not one left alive, except that 
harlot who had betrayed her king and her country. She, 
and her father, and her father's household were kept alive, 
and all their property secured to them, and they received 
by and dwelt among the murderers of their country people. 
After the murder, the spoils were gathered and the city 
burned. Notwithstanding the examples set by that whole- 
sale murderer and robber, Joshua, he had not the least 
sympathy for those who attempted to profit by his exam- 
ples ; for one of his own men, Achan, who had attempted 
to appropriate to his own use a part of the spoils of which 
Jericho had been plundered, Joshua had him, his sons, and 
daughters, though he confessed his guilt and gave up the 
property, taken into a valley and there stoned by all Israel, 
and then burned them. The manner of getting up and of 
executing his expedition against Jericho most emphatically 
demonstrates the entire absence of humanity and honesty 
in the composition of Joshua. I will not therefore follow 
his historian through all his details of murders and rob- 
beries, but will merely copy a list of the kings which that 
10 * 



114 TRUE HISTORY OF 

historian says Joshua smote, which, I suppose, means that 
he murdered and robbed them, and all their subjects that 
he could : — 

" The king of Jericho, one ; the king of Ai, which is 
beside Beth-el, one ; the king of Jerusalem, one ; the king 
of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of 
Lachish, one ; the king of Eglon, one ; the king of Gezer, 
one ; the king of Debir, one ; the king of Geder, one ; the 
king of Hormah, one ; the king of Arad, one ; the king of 
Libnah, one ; the king of Adullam, one ; the king of Mak- 
kedah, one ; the king of Beth-el, one ; the king of Tappuah, 
one ; the king of Hepher, one ; the king of Aphek, one ; 
the king of Lasharon, one ; the king of Madon, one ; the 
king of Hazor, one ; the king of Shimron-meron, one ; the 
king of Achshaph, one ; the king of Taanach, one ; the 
king of Megiddo, one ; the king of Kedesh, one ; the king 
of Jokneam of Carmel, one ; the king of Dor in the coast of 
Dor, one ; the king of the nations of Gilgal, one ; the king 
of Tirzar, one ; all the kings, thirty and one." (Josh. xii. 9.) 

The principal object of both Moses and Joshua, in their 
infamous murders and robberies, judging from their acts, 
and one which they kept a watchful eye upon, was, to en- 
rich the government and the priesthood, and thereby ren- 
der their power omnipotent over their people. To accom- 
plish that object fully, it was necessary that the most valu- 
able part of all plunderings and robberies should, by some 
means or other, be placed at the disposal of the officers of 
the government and the priests, and also that there should 
be a place prepared to receive the same ; which place 
should be considered too sacred for any of the people to 
examine, or touch, or even to come near unto ; and Moses, 
whose mind was very fertile in expedients, furnished the 
means to accomplish both these desired objects. The sacri- 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 115 

fices, offerings, and gifts were instituted and established by 
him ; he collected all things which were most valuable, and 
deposited them with the officers of the government and the 
priests ; and the sanctuary, made for Moses's God to dwell 
in, was an excellent treasury chest for the safe keeping of 
very valuable articles. 

" And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell 
among them." (Ex. xxv. 8.) Sanctuary is mentioned by 
several writers in the Bible, but none of them, so far as I 
recollect, give any definition as to what they mean by sanc- 
tuary. In the New Testament it is mentioned and described 
thus : " For there was a tabernacle made ; the first whereof 
was the candlestick, and the table, and the shew bread, 
which is called the sanctuary."* (Heb. ix. 2.) It ap- 
pears to me that the sanctuary mentioned by Moses is the 
same as the ark and the mercy seat built by him ; the mercy 
seat being upon the ark, and overspread by two cherubs, one 
on each end. " And make one cherub on one end, and the 
other cherub on the other end ; even of the mercy seat 
make the cherubims on the two ends thereof. And the 
cherubims shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering 
the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look 
one to another ; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the 
cherubims be. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above 
upon the ark ; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony 
that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I 
will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from 
between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the 

* " Sanctuary — A sacred place ; particularly among the Israelites the 
most retired part of the temple of Jerusalem, called the Holy of Holies, 
in which, was kept the ark of the covenant, and into which no person 
was permitted to enter except the high x>riests, and that only once a 
year, to intercede for the people. The same name was given to the 
sacred part of the tabernacle." — Noah Webster. 



11G TRUE HISTORY OF 

testimony, of all things which I will give thee in command 
unto the children of Israel." (Ex. xxv. 19-22.) 

That ark was a box made of shittim wood, about four 
feet four inches long, about two feet seven inches wide, and 
two feet seven inches high. What a place for the God that 
created the universe, if there be such a being, to dwell in ! 
It was, so says Moses, overlaid, inside and outside, with 
pure gold ; and upon it the mercy seat, about three feet six 
inches long, and one foot nine inches wide, made of pure 
gold; and upon each end of the mercy seat was a cherubim 
of pure gold, covering the whole seat with their wings. 
Let any rational being seriously contemplate this descrip- 
tion ! There sits, on a seat of gold, the declared Maker of 
all things, with a golden image on each side, with their 
wings stretched up over his head, forming a canopy. There 
he sits communing with Moses, a being he had made, com- 
manding him to rob and to murder other beings which he 
had also made, men, women, and children. There you have 
Moses's God! human nature! where ye are not, by 
tyrants and clergy, sunk to the level of the brute, can ye 
worship such a God ? 

This fine box was no doubt the depository for such arti- 
cles of small bulk as the officers of government and the 
priests thought the most valuable, such as gold, silver, &c, 
and its magnificent embellishments, the mercy seat, and 
cherubims, said to be made of pure gold. The assertion 
that it was the dwelling of God, was intended to, and no 
doubt did, inspire the superstitious Israelites with such rev- 
erence for that little mansion as to render every thing put 
therein safe from their depredation. But Moses had too 
watchful an eye over his God, that is, gold, silver, &c., to 
depend for its safety on the superstition which he unremit- 
tingly fostered among his people. He made it death for 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 117 

any one to come near to that highly ornamented little man- 
sion, except the priests, who were his coadjutors in deceiv- 
ing and swindling the people. Moreover, he had the staves, 
being the handles by which it was carried from place to 
place, fastened to it, and strictly forbid their being removed ; 
so that on danger appearing, be the appearance ever so 
sudden, that treasure was ready for removal. 



CHAPTER XII. 

VISIONARY BEINGS. 

In order to give some idea of the confused views which 
mankind have of those visionary beings called gods ; an- 
gels, of nine or more orders ; spirits, good and bad, &c, I 
will copy from four lexicographers, all of them in their day 
considered high authority, their explanation of " cherubim." 
Bailey, the most ancient of the four, says, " Cherubim, the 
second of the nine orders of angels. Some think that cher- 
ubim was a hieroglyphical representation of the Deity," 
Walker says, " Cherubim, the Hebrew plural of cherub, a 
celestial spirit." Johnson says, " Cherub — plural cheru- 
bim — a celestial spirit, which, in hierarchy, is placed next 
in order to the seraphim." Webster, who is now considered 
the highest authority, says, " Cherubim, the Hebrew plu- 
ral of cherub. Cherub, (the word is said to signify, prop- 
erly, any image or figure ; if so, it may have been named 
from engraving. But this is uncertain, and the learned 
world is not agreed on the signification.) A figure composed 
of various creatures, as a man, an ox, an eagle, or a lion. 



118 TRUE HISTORY OF 

The first mention of cherubs is in Gen. iii. 24, where the 
figure is not described ; but their office was, with a flaming 
sword, to keep or guard the way of the tree of life. The 
two cherubs which Moses was commanded to make at the 
ends of the mercy seat, were to be of beaten work of gold ; 
and their wings were to extend over the mercy seat, their 
faces towards each other, and between them was the resi- 
dence of the Deity. (Ex. xxv.) The cherubs in Ezekiel's 
vision had each four heads, or faces, the hands of a man, 
and wings. The four faces were, the face of a bull, that 
of a man, that of a lion, and that of an eagle. They had 
the likeness of a man. (Ezek. iv. and x.) In 2 Sam. xxii. 
11, and Psalms xviii., Jehovah is represented as riding on 
a cherub, and flying on the wings of the wind. In celestial 
hierarchy, cherubs are represented as spirits next in order 
to seraphs. The hieroglyphical and emblematical figures 
embroidered on the vails of the tabernacle are called cher- 
ubs of skilful work. (Ex. xxvi.) A beautiful child is called 
a cherub." 

Now, let any person take these explanations, and see if 
he or she can make out from them what a cherub is, or 
what it is like; if not, then let them examine every place 
where that word appears in the Bible, and account to their 
own understanding according to the evidence received, as 
to what kind of a being a cherub is ; or whether there ever 
was such a being only in the crafty minds of hypocrites, and 
in the bewildered imagination of superstition. Mr. Web- 
ster ends his long and labored explanation, and no doubt as 
correct a one as can be given, by saying, "A beautiful child 
is called a cherub." I think a beautiful child very much 
slandered whenever it is so called ; for, from all the descrip- 
tions of cherub I have met with, I do not know that there 
is any being that has any pretension to the human form, 
less like a beautiful child. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 119 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ISRAELITES. — MASSACRE OF THE BENJAMITES. 

Joshua, after he had " smote " the thirty-one kings, di- 
vided the land among the several tribes of the Israelites; 
but they never did get full possession of it, as any person 
may satisfy himself or herself by carefully examining their 
progress after Joshua's death. Not more than a year after 
Joshua's death, Judah, who was appointed in his place, 
went against the Canaanites. " And the Lord was with Ju- 
dah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain, but 
could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because 
they had chariots of iron." (Judges i. 19.) That is a posi- 
tive declaration that Moses's God was not all-powerful ; he 
could not prevail against chariots of iron. There are other 
places in the history of that God, where the same declara- 
tion is made in substance. I will give one : " And it came 
to pass by the way in the inn, that the Lord met him (Mo- 
ses) and sought to kill him." (Ex. iv. 24.) ( Query — What 
was their trouble in the tavern, that caused them to wran- 
gle ? ) If any being seeks to do a thing, and does not do 
it, the fair and reasonable conclusion is, that he could not 
do it ; that some superior wisdom, craft, or power prevented 
him from doing that which he intended to do. " And the 
children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebu sites that 
inhabited Jerusalem ; but the Jebusites dwell with the chil- 
dren of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day." (Judges 
i. 21.) 

Nor did the Israelites find a land that " flowed with milk 



120 TRUE HISTORY OF 

and honey ;" for they obtained a large part of their subsist- 
ence by murdering and plundering their neighbors. There 
are parts of the history of the Israelites given in the last 
three chapters of Judges, which appear to have been omitted 
in their proper place; which, according to the marginal 
dates, must have taken place, if they did take place at all, 
not more than eighteen or twenty years after the death of 
Joshua ; and are so extraordinary in their nature and con- 
sequences, that it is surprising that they were omitted by 
the historian, or historians, that recorded the proceedings 
and exploits of Joshua ; for it is clear, from many expres- 
sions in that record, that the history of Joshua, was not 
written until many years after his death. 

" And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and 
all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which 
had known all the work of the Lord that he had done for Is- 
rael." (Joshua xxiv. 31.) Now, it could not be known wheth- 
er Israel so served or not, until all the elders mentioned were 
dead. The writer, or writers, of the book of Judges had 
brought up the history of the Israelites to a period nearly 
or quite three hundred years after the death of Joshua, be- 
fore they stated the extraordinary occurrences which I am 
about to review, and which, as before stated, must have 
happened, if at all, not more than eighteen or twenty years 
after his death. Judah, the immediate successor of Joshua, 
was the first chief sent against the Benjamites. A detailed 
account of these most horrible transactions may be read in 
Judges xix., xx., and xxi. The story plainly told is, that 
a lewd man took to his embraces a lewd woman, who in a 
short time became tired of him and left him ; the record 
says, she played the whore. When she had been gone 
four months, he went in search of her, found her, and was 
taking her home ; night coming on, he put up at a house 
in a town belonging to the Benjamites, one of the tribes of 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 121 

Israel. After night a mob beset the house and demanded 
the sojourner ; he, to screen himself, delivered up his con- 
cubine to the mob, and went quietly to his rest. In the 
morning, when he came out of the house to proceed on his 
way home, he found his concubine dead at the door ; he 
laid her body upon his beast, and took it home ; then cut 
her body into twelve parts, and sent one part to each of the 
twelve tribes of Israel. Of course he must have sent one 
part to the Benjamites, the declared offenders; and the 
record says, " Then all the children of Israel went out, and 
all the congregation was gathered together as one man, 
from Dan even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto 
die Lord in Mizpeh." (Judges xx. 1.) But there appears, 
by several declarations made in the same record, to be some 
mistake here ; for it is said, the tribes of Israel (meaning, 
I suppose, all Israel except the Benjamites) sent men 
through all the tribe of Benjamin, and demanded that they, 
the Benjamites, should deliver up the offenders to them, 
that they might put them to death ; but the Benjamites, not 
knowing who the offenders were, or from some other cause, re- 
fused to deliver them as demanded. Upon which refusal, — 
so the record says, — "So all the men of Israel were gath- 
ered against the city, knit together as one man," (Judges 
xx. 11.) 

Here, again, we must suppose that * all the men of Is- 
rael " meant all but the Benjamites ; and when they were 
drawn up in battle array before the city Gibeah, the Benja- 
mites, whose army numbered twenty-six thousand seven 
hundred men, went out and met them ; which rencounter 
and its successors resulted in the following enormous mur- 
ders. In the first battle, the Benjamites slew of their 
brother Israelites twenty-two thousand men; in the sec- 
ond battle, the Benjamites slew of their brother Israelites 
11 



VZ2 TIJUE HISTORY G¥ 

eighteen thousand men ; in the third battle, the Israelites 
slew of their brother Benjamites twenty-five thousand one 
hundred men. There sixty-five thousand one hundred men 
were murdered, yet the slaughter was not half over; for 
the record says, that after the army of the Benjamites were 
slaughtered and dispersed, the Israelites turned upon the 
inhabitants of Benjamin, slew all, and burned their cities. 
As before stated, there were twenty-six thousand seven hun- 
dred Benjamites that drew the sword. It will be a moder- 
ate calculation to say, that there must have been three other 
inhabitants (old men and others not fit for the army, and 
women and children) for every soldier ; then there were 
of these four classes murdered eighty thousand one hundred ; 
then we must add one thousand of the soldiers not ac- 
counted for ; they must have been among those who were 
indiscriminately murdered in the cities and in the country, 
for it does not appear that any of the Benjamites escaped 
death, except the six hundred soldiers that took refuge in 
the rock Rimmon. That makes the indiscriminate slaughter 
to be eighty-one thousand and one hundred, which, being 
added to the sixty-five thousand one hundred soldiers slain 
in the first three battles, makes the murder of one hundred 
and forty-six thousand two hundred men, women, and chil- 
dren. Yet that was not all ; for, after stating, as before 
cited, " Then all the children of Israel went out, and the 
congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan 
even to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord 
in Mizpeh," (Judges xx. 1,) it was found out, or pretended 
to be found out, that there was none from Jabesh-gilead up 
before the Lord in Mizpeh ; and to punish such refusal, or 
neglect, there were sent against that city " twelve thousand 
men of the valiantest," (Judges xxi. 10,) with orders to kill 
all the inhabitants but the young marriageable virgins, of 
which they found and brought away four hundred, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 123 

As it was thought necessary to send " twelve thousand 
men of the valiantest," it will be a moderate calculation 
to say the city contained six thousand fighting men, and 
three other peisons for every fighting man, making in all 
twenty-four thousand inhabitants ; from which take the 
four hundred virgins which were kept alive, and there must 
have been murdered of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead 
twenty-three thousand six hundred men, women, and chil- 
dren, which, added to the already enumerated immense 
slaughter, will make one hundred and sixty-nine thousand 
and eight hundred men, women, and children butchered. 
And for what ? Yes, indeed, for what was all that enor- 
mous butchering of men, women, and children, together 
with other acts equally as revolting to justice and moral 
rectitude, done? What of good was there accomplished 
by all, or any part of that wretched round of enormities ? 
One hundred and sixty-nine thousand and eight hundred 
men, women, and children murdered, and four hundred 
young virgins forced. I ask again, for what? Yet there 
were two hundred of the six hundred Benjamites that 
escaped death, who had no wife. " Therefore they com- 
manded the children of Benjamin (the two hundred,) saying, 
Go, and lie in wait in the vineyards, and see, and behold if 
the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances ; then 
come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his 
wife of the daughters of Shiloh, and go to the land of Ben- 
jamin." (Judges xx. 20, 21.) And they did so. 

The historian, at the close of the account of the many 
miserable transactions there given, appears to wish to make 
some apology for their enormity. He says, " In those days 
there was no king in Israel ; every man did that which was 
right in his own eyes." (Judges xxi. 25.) The declaration 
that there was no king in Israel in those days, appears by his- 
tory to be true in words, but not true in fact j that is, there 



124 TRUE HISTORY OF 

was no person there at that time that was installed king, 
yet every man did not do that which was right in his own 
eyes. If they had been left so to do, they would not have 
committed the enormities and wickedness they were made 
the tools in the hands of tyrants and hypocrites to commit ; 
but the Israelites had a king in fact, under whose tyranni- 
cal decrees and commands, made known to them by their 
leaders, and enforced even by the penalty of death for dis- 
obedience or neglect, they acted from the time of their 
revolt in Egypt. The Bible God was that king ; created 
by Moses to assist him in deceiving and enslaving his own 
people, and in murdering and robbing others ; and he 
answered that purpose so well, that he has been kept in 
existence, by tyrants and clergy, to the present day. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SACRIFICES, OFFERINGS, &c., AND THEIR EVIDENT 

OBJECT. 

I have said that Moses instituted his endless round of 
sacrifices, offerings, &c, to supply the officers of the gov- 
ernment, and the priests, who were his tools to assist him, 
in deceiving and plundering the people, with a plentiful and 
permanent system of subsistence ; and advised every per- 
son, who wished to form a correct opinion on that subject, 
to examine as freely and impartially as their prejudices and 
superstition would let them, each of those institutions as 
recorded by Moses in the Bible. But as those institutions 
are intermixed throughout a great part of Moses's writings, 



MOSES, AAKON, AND JOSHUA. 125 

there is so much trash to be gone over, there will be many 
who will not have the leisure, and others that may not have 
the disposition, to labor through such barricades of rubbish 
as is continually encountered in examining any thing re- 
corded by Moses. I will therefore copy one of those insti- 
tutions as recorded by him. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the 
children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering and my 
bread for my sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savor unto 
me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season. 
And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made 
by fire which ye shall offer unto the Lord : two lambs of 
the first year without spot day by day, for a continual burnt 
offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, 
and the other lamb shalt thou offer at even. And a tenth 
part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering, mingled with 
the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt 
offering, which was ordained im Mount Sinai for a sweet 
savor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. And the 
drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hin for 
one lamb ; in the holy place shalt thou cause strong wine 
to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering. And the 
other lamb shalt thou offer at even ; as the meat offering of 
the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt 
offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the 
Lord. And on the Sabbath day, two lambs of the first 
year without spot, and two tenth-deals of flour for a meat 
offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof. 
This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the 
continual burnt offering and his drink offering. 

" And in the beginning of your months ye shall offer a 
burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one 
ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot ; and three 
11 * 



126 TRUE HISTORY OF 

tenth-deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, 
for one bullock ; and two tenth-deals of flour for a meat 
offering, mingled with oil, for one ram ; and a several tenth- 
deal of flour, mingled with oil, for a meat offering unto one 
lamb, for a burnt offering of a sweet savor, a sacrifice made 
by fire unto the Lord. And their drink offerings shall be half 
a hin of wine unto a bullock, and the third part of a hin unto 
a ram, and the fourth part of a hin unto one lamb : this is 
the burnt offering of every month throughout the months 
of the year. And one kid of the goats for a sin offering 
unto the Lord shall be offered, besides the continual burnt 
offering and his drink offering. And on the fourteenth of 
the first month is the passover of the Lord. And on the 
fifteenth of this month is the feast ; seven days shall un- 
leavened bread be eaten. In the first day there shall be a 
holy convocation ; ye shall do no manner of servile work 
therein. But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a 
burnt offering unto the Lord ; two young bullocks, and one 
ram, and seven lambs of the first year ; they shall be unto 
you without blemish. And their meat offering shall be of 
flour, mingled with oil ; three tenth-deals shall ye offer for 
a bullock, and two tenth-deals for a ram ; a several tenth- 
deal for a lamb, throughout the seven lambs ; and one goat 
for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you. Ye shall 
offer these besides the burnt offering in the morning, which 
is for a continual burnt offering. After this manner ye 
shall offer daily throughout the seven days, the meat of the 
sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord ; it 
shall be an offering besides the continual burnt offering, and 
his drink offering. And on the seventh day ye shall have a 
holy convocation ; ye shall do no servile work. Also, in 
the days of the first fruits, when ye bring a new meat offer- 
ing unto the Lord, after your weeks be out, ye shall have a 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUAo 127 

holy convocation ; ye shall do no servile work- But ye 
shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet savor unto the 
Lord ; two young bullocks, one ram, seven lambs of the first 
year ; and their meat offering of flour, mingled with oil, three 
tenth-deals unto one bullock, two tenth-deals unto one ram, 
a several tenth-deal unto one lamb, throughout the seven 
lambs ; and one kid of the goats to make an atonement for 
you. Ye shall offer them besides the continual burnt offer- 
ing and his meat offering, (they shall be unto you without 
blemish,) and their drink offering. 

"And in the seventh month, on the first day of the 
month, ye shall have a holy convocation ; ye shall do no 
servile work ; it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you e 
And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor unto 
the Lord ; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of 
the first year without blemish. And their meat offering 
shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth-deals for a 
bullock, and two tenth-deals for a ram ; and one tenth-deal 
for a lamb throughout the seven lambs ; and one kid of the 
goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you : be- 
sides the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, 
and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their 
drink offerings, according unto the manner, for a sweet sa- 
vor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall 
have on the tenth day of the seventh month a holy convo- 
cation : and ye shall afflict your souls : ye shall not do any 
work therein : but ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the 
Lord for a sweet savor; one young bullock, one ram, and 
seven lambs of the first year ; they shall be unto you with- 
out blemish. And their meat offering shall be of flour, 
mingled with oil, three tenth-deals to a bullock, and tw T o 
tenth-deals to one ram ; a several tenth-deal for one lamb 
throughout the seven lambs ; one kid of the goats for a sin 



128 TRUE HISTORY OF. 

offering; besides the sin offering of atonement, and the 
continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and 
the drink offerings. 

" And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall 
have a holy convocation ; ye shall do no servile work, and 
ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days : and ye 
shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a 
sweet savor unto the Lord ; thirteen young bullocks, two 
rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year ; they shall be 
without blemish. And their meat offerings shall be of 
flour mingled with oil ; three tenth-deals unto every bullock 
of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth-deals to each ram of the 
two rams, and a several tenth-deal to each lamb of the 
fourteen lambs ; and one kid of the goats for a sin offering ; 
besides the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering. 
And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, 
two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot. 
And their meat offerings and their drink offerings for the 
bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs shall be accord- 
ing to their number, after the manner ; and one kid of the 
goats for a sin offering ; besides the continual burnt offer- 
ing, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings. 
And on the third day, eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen 
lambs of the first year without blemish. And their meat 
offerings and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the 
rams, and for the lambs shall be according to their number, 
after the manner; and one goat for a sin offering; besides 
the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his 
drink offering. And on the fourth day, ten bullocks, two 
rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish. 
Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bul- 
locks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according 
to their number, after the manner; and one kid of the 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 129 

goats for a sin offering ; besides the continual burnt offer- 
ing, his meat offering, and his drink offering. 

" And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and four- 
teen lambs of the first year without spot ; and their meat 
offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the 
rams, and for the lambs shall be according to their number, 
after the manner; and a goat for a sin offering; besides 
the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his 
drink offering. And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two 
rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish ; 
and their meat offering and their drink offering for the bul- 
locks, for the rams, and for the lambs shall be according to 
their number, after the manner ; and one goat for a sin of- 
fering ; besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offer- 
ing, and his drink offering. And on the seventh day seven 
bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year 
without blemish ; and their meat offering and their drink 
offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs 
shall be according to their number, after the manner ; and 
one goat for a sin offering ; besides the continual burnt of- 
fering, his meat offering, and his drink offering. On the 
eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly : ye shall do 
no servile work therein ; but ye shall offer a burnt offering, 
a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord : 
one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without 
blemish ; their meat offering and their drink offering for the 
bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs shall be according 
to their number, after the manner ; and one goat for a sin 
offering ; besides the continual burnt offering, and his meat 
offering, and his drink offering. These things ye shall do 
unto the Lord in your set feasts, besides your vows, and 
your free will offerings, for your burnt offerings, and 
your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for 



130 TRUE HISTORY OP 

your peace offerings. And Moses told the children of Is- 
rael according to all that the Lord commanded Moses." 
(Num. xxviii. 1-39 ; xxix. 13-40.) 

I have counted the number of animals, and calculated the 
quantity of flour, of oil, and of wine, which these " set 
feasts " required in each year, as carefully as I could. The 
number of animals I believe to be correct, and the quantity 
of flour, oil, and wine as nearly so as can be made out from 
the measures given ; but such as desire so to do can examine 
and calculate for themselves. I find as follows : One hun- 
dred and eight bullocks, thirty-two rams, nine hundred and 
seventy-four lambs, eighteen kids, and six goats ; the quan- 
tity of flour two hundred and four bushels and three tenths 
of a bushel ; of oil, five hundred and ten gallons and three 
quarts ; and of wine, four hundred and sixty-eight gallons 
and one quart. Add to these the many gifts, offerings, and 
sacrifices mentioned in the Bible history of those times, and 
you have an array of tyrannical and hypocritical impositions 
never equally practised upon any other people. Some of 
those which I mentioned when speaking of the organization 
of Moses's guard I will state here, that they may be in com- 
pany with this display of gross impositions. ** And the 
Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee 
charge of my heave offerings of all the hallowed things of 
the children of Israel ; unto thee have I given them by 
reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance 
forever. This shall be thine of the most holy things re- 
served from the fire : every oblation of theirs, every meat 
offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every 
trespass offering of theirs which they shall render unto me 
shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. In the most 
holy place shalt thou eat it: every male shall eat it: it shall 
be holy unto thee. And this is thine ; the heave offering 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 131 

of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of 
Israel : I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons, and 
to thy daughters with thee, by statute forever : every one 
that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. All the best of 
the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the 
first fruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, 
them have I given unto thee ; and whatsoever is first ripe 
in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be 
thine: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of 
it. Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.' ' (Num. 
xviii. 8-13.) 

Notwithstanding the many sacrifices, vows, gifts, offer- 
ings, &c, which were secured to the priests, the Levites, 
the tribe from which all the priests were and were to be 
forever taken, had set apart to them the tenth of all that 
belonged to the other tribes. 

" And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no 
inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part 
among them : I am thy part and thine inheritance among 
the children of Israel. And behold, I have given the chil- 
dren of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for 
their service which they serve, even the service of the tab- 
ernacle of the congregation. Neither must the children of 
Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congre- 
gation, lest they bear sin, and die. But the Levites shall 
do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and 
they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a statute forever 
throughout your generations, that among the children of 
Israel they have no inheritance. But the tithes of the' 
children of Israel which they offer as a heave offering unto 
the Lord I have given to the Levites to inherit ; therefore 
I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they 
shall have no inheritance." (Num. xviii. 20-24.) 



132 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE INORDINATE AMBITION AND AVARICE OF THE 
CLERGY. — CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 

Evert honest person naturally would conclude that on 
receiving the indisputable (it was death to question any of 
the commands of Moses's God) title to the benefit of so 
many vows, gifts, offerings, sacrifices, &c, and added there- 
to the tenth of every thing in Israel, the priestly tribe, the 
Levites, would certainly be satisfied — that they would not 
require or receive of their poor oppressed countrymen any 
thing more. Those who would thus conclude have little 
reflected on the desire for power and pelf which ever did, 
and now does, govern the majority of the clergy of every 
country. No ; the Levites were not done with their exac- 
tions ; for notwithstanding their God had told them they 
should not have any inheritance among the children of Is- 
rael, they did, by some management or other, obtain a de- 
cree from that same God for forty-eight cities with very 
large suburbs, to be selected in the possessions of the 
other eleven tribes, according to the possession of each 
tribe. 

" And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab, 
by Jordan, near Jericho, saying, Command the children of 
Israel that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of 
their possession cities to dwell in ; and ye shall give also 
unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them. 
And the cities shall they have to dwell in ; and the suburbs 
of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 133 

for all kind of beasts. And the suburbs of the cities 
which ye shall give unto the Levites shall reach from the 
wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about. 
And ye shall measure from without the city on the east 
side two thousand cubits, and the south side two thousand 
cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the 
north side two thousand cubits ; and the city shall be in the 
midst : this shall be to them the suburbs of the city. And 
among the cities which ye shall give unto the Levites there 
shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the 
man slayer, that he may flee thither ; and to them ye shall 
add forty and two cities. So all the cities which ye shall 
give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities : them 
shall ye give with their suburbs. And the cities which ye 
shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Is- 
rael: from them that have many ye shall give many; but 
from them that have few ye shall give few ; every one shall 
give of his cities unto the Levites according to his inherit- 
ance which he inheriteth." (Num. xxxv. 1-8.) 

Noah Webster, in his Dictionary, says that Dr. Arbuth- 
not states the cubit of the Scriptures at a little less than 
twenty-two inches ; in my calculations I shall rate the cubit 
at twenty-one inches. " Ye shall measure from without the 
city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south 
side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand 
cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits." That 
measurement was to commence at the outer edge of the 
cities. If we suppose that from the centre of each city, on 
an average, to the outer edge was five hundred cubits, 
(which would be supposing the cities small in proportion 
to their suburbs,) then each city, with its suburbs, on an 
average, would extend from its centre east two thousand 
five hundred cubits, south two thousand five hundred cubits, 
12 



134 TRUE niSTORY OF 

west two thousand five hundred cubits, north two thousand 
five hundred cubits. Each city, with its suburbs, then oc- 
cupied a piece of ground five thousand cubits square. If 
there be no mistake in my calculation, (I think there is 
not,) the forty-eight cities, with their suburbs, which were 
thus decreed to the Levites for an inheritance by that same 
God who had declared repeatedly that they should have no 
inheritance in the land, covered one hundred and thirty-one 
square miles and eight tenths of a square mile of land — a 
quantity equal to one third of Miami county. This grant 
demonstrates how difficult it always has been to guard 
against the wiles of the clergy. Are they any better at 
the present day, where they have power to enforce their 
exactions ? I think not. The following extract will show 
they have made no improvement, except in the way of 
amassing to themselves enormously large amounts of wealth 
out of the hard earnings of the poor, leaving thousands of 
the poor to starve, while they revel, amidst their ill-gotten 
wealth, in luxury, pride, and insolence : — 

From the " Daily Ohio Statesman " of September 25, 1851. 
" OPPRESSION OF IRELAND. 

"From a late parliamentary return of the revenue of 
the bishops of the Established Church in Ireland we find 
that the twenty-five state bishops of England divide among 
them, annually, the sum of one hundred and eighty thou- 
sand pounds sterling ! ($799,200.) The sums they have 
left behind them at their death are enormous. The returns 
made to the English Parliament prove that eleven Irish 
state bishops left behind them amassed wealth to the amount 
of one million eight hundred and seventy-five thousand 
pounds sterling, accumulated in a period of from forty to 



MOSES, AARON AND JOSHUA. 135 

fifty years : the Bishop of Dublin, £150,000 ; the Bishop 
of Tuam, =£250,000; the Bishop of Raphoe, £250,000; 
the Bishop of Armagh, £300,000 ; the Bishop of Clogher, 
£250,000 ; the Bishop of Cashell, £400,000 ; with a list 
of others, making the amount above named. Now, when 
the fact is considered that these large amounts of money 
are collected by the aforesaid bishops from the poorest na- 
tion on the face of the earth, and from a people to whom 
the mass of them render not the smallest service, the op- 
pressiveness of this church hierarchy can be justly esti- 
mated. Perhaps in all Ireland there are not more than 
some 700,000 Protestants ; and in a large number of 
parishes not one, and yet the people are all compelled to 
pay tithes for the support of this Established Church. We 
confess that we look upon these exactions with feelings of 
loathing, and we wonder not that Protestantism is repudi- 
ated by the oppressed people of Ireland. There is rank 
oppression and gross injustice in a system which robs the 
common people to pamper the pride and luxury of Episco- 
pal favorites." 

Such injustice and oppression are the legitimate offspring 
of the tyrannical conduct of Moses, Joshua, Judah, David, 
and Solomon, and the hypocritical and legerdemain tricks of 
their respective priests. How can it be otherwise, so long as 
the history of those tyrants and hypocrites is made a very 
prominent feature in the education of the infant, of the youth, 
and of the aged ? the very reading of which, it being little 
else than the continued relation of the most abominable 
crimes, and which crimes the history states were committed, 
in general, by the command of God, (Moses's God,) is suf- 
ficient to, and does, corrupt the minds of children, and of 
youth, and often extinguishes the best feelings of human na- 
ture in the aged. The frequent exhibiting or relating of 



13G TRUE HISTORY OF 

crimes, even when they are accompanied with the denuncia- 
tions and the penalties of the law against those who commit 
them, it is well known, has a very injurious effect on the 
morals of society. Then, how infinitely more injurious 
must be the continually reading of and pondering over 
horrid crimes committed by men w T ho, we are taught to be- 
lieve, were the best, and some of them the wisest, men that 
ever lived ; and that their acts were, generally, nothing 
more than the fulfilment of the commands of God ! 

The low estimation in which women and children were 
held by the Hebrews, from Abraham to Solomon inclusive, 
is sufficient proof that their morals were of the most de- 
grading type. It does not appear that their principal men 
considered women of any consequence other than to be 
used by the men ; and it does appear that they cared not 
to raise more females than they considered desirable to 
gratify the passions of the men, nor more males than were 
necessary to keep up a force that would enable them to con- 
tinue their murderings and plunderings of their neighbors. 
The conduct of the principal men of the Hebrews, from 
Abraham to Judah, who succeeded Joshua, has been suf- 
ficiently portrayed in the preceding sketches. I will now 
exhibit a few of the doings of David, and of Solomon, his 
son, as they are, I believe, generally considered the two 
greatest men of that nation except Moses. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 137 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DAVID. — HIS ABOMINABLE PRAYER. 

David had born to him in Hebron six sons, only one of 
whom was the offspring of his wife ; and he had born to him 
in Jerusalem thirteen sons and a daughter, of concubines. 
(1 Chron. iii.) Of the thirteen it is not stated who their 
mothers were, except four — Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and 
Solomon. They were the sons of Bathshua, who, I suppose, 
was his particular favorite; for he swore to her that her 
son Solomon should inherit his throne, which oath he in 
his extreme old age and debility complied with, by having 
Solomon anointed king of Israel, and seated on his own 
throne, and general proclamation made thereof. At a cer- 
tain time David saw a woman washing herself, and being 
very much pleased with her appearance, sent some of his 
servants — " kings can do no wrong" — and had her brought 
to him ; and he lay with her, and then let her return to 
her own house. (2 Sam. xi. 4.) That woman was Bath- 
sheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of Uriah the 
Hittite. David was so well pleased with Bath-sheba that 
he determined to have her to himself; he therefore sent 
Uriah to the war, and gave orders to the commanding officer 
to have him placed in the front of the battle, so that he 
should be certainly killed, which was done accordingly. 
After Uriah's death, David took Bath-sheba to wife, and 
Samuel says that she was the mother of Solomon (2 Sam. 
xii. 24; but Samuel does not agree with the account given 
in Chronicles. It is there stated that Bathshua, the daughter 
12* 



138 TRUE HISTORY OP 

of Ammiel, was the mother of Solomon ; and according to 
the arrangement there given, he was her youngest son of 
four. (1 Chron. iii. 5.) 

The hundred and ninth Psalm of David is a long prayer 
to his God to send heavy and continued curses upon his 
adversaries, and great and perpetual blessings upon him- 
self : " Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise ; for the 
mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful is open 
against me : they have spoken against me with a lying tongue. 
They compassed me about also with words of hatred, and 
fought against me without cause. For my love they are 
my adversaries : but I give myself unto prayer. And they 
have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 
Set thou a wicked man over him : and let Satan stand at 
his right hand. When he shall be judged let him be con- 
demned ; and let his prayer become sin. Let his days be 
few, and let another take his oifice. Let his children be 
fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be con- 
tinually vagabonds, and beg : let them seek their bread also 
out of their desolate places. Let the extortioner catch all 
that he hath, and the stranger spoil his labor. Let there 
be none to extend mercy unto him ; neither let there be any 
to favor his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut 
off; and in the generation following let their name be blot- 
ted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with 
the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out. 
Let them be before the Lord continually, that he may cut 
off the memory of them from the earth. Because that he re- 
membered not to show mercy, but persecuted the poor and 
needy man, that he might slay the broken in heart. As he 
loved cursing, so let it come unto him : as he delighted not 
in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed him- 
self with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 139 

his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones. Let it be 
unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a 
girdle wherewith he is girded continually. Let this be the 
reward of mine adversaries from the Lord, and of them 
that speak evil against my soul. But do thou for me, O 
God the Lord, for thy name's sake : because thy mercy is 
good, deliver thou me. For I am poor and needy, and my 
heart is wounded within me. I am gone like the shadow 
when it declineth : I am tossed up and down like the locust. 
My knees are weak through fasting ; and my flesh faileth 
of fatness. I became also a reproach unto them : when 
they looked upon me they shaked their heads. Help me, 
O Lord my God : 0, save me according to thy mercy ; that 
they may know that this is thy hand ; that thou, Lord, hast 
done it. Let them curse, but bless thou : when they arise 
let them be ashamed, but thy servant rejoice. Let mine 
adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover them- 
selves with their own confusion as with a mantle. I will 
greatly praise the Lord with my mouth ; yea, I will praise 
him among the multitude. For he shall stand at the right 
hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his 
soul." (Ps. cix.) 

After reading the foregoing prayer, who can doubt that 
" David was a man after God's own heart" ? But it was 
the Bible God, who was created, or at least fashioned, by 
Moses. Can any rational being believe that such wicked, 
such abominably wicked trash can be acceptable to an in- 
finitely wise, infinitely powerful, and, of course, infinitely 
good being, if there be such a being ? 

" Now King David was old and stricken in years ; and 
they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Where- 
fore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my 
lord the king a young virgin : and let her stand before the 



140 TRUE HISTORY OF 

king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, 
that my lord the king may get heat. So they sought for a 
fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found 
Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 
And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and 
ministered to him." (1 Kings i. 1.) David and his God 
appear each to have had a heart as base and depraved as 
it is possible for any being to have ; but there appears one 
honorable exception in David's favor. " And David said 
unto God, I am in a great strait ; let us fall now into the 
hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, and let me not 
fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence 
upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed ; 
and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba 
seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched out 
his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented 
him of the evil, and said unto the angel that destroyed the 
people, It is enough : stay now thy hand. And David 
spake unto the Lord when he saw the angel that smote the 
people, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly ; but 
these sheep, what have they done ? Let thy hand, I pray 
thee, be against me, and against my father's house. ,, (2 Sam. 
xxiv. 14.) 

The record does not inform us how many women and 
children died, for they were considered, among the Israelites, 
of too little consequence to merit the trouble of counting ; 
yet they uniformly suffered with the men, whether the suf- 
fering was inflicted by the Bible God or by his vicegerents ; 
so that we may reasonably conclude that for every man 
that died there were two other persons died. If so, then 
there were two hundred and ten thousand men, women, and 
children murdered by that vindictive God. For what? 
Why, because David, as king, made his officers number his 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 141 

subjects ; and yet that God had moved David to do so. 
The benevolent person, after reading the above statement 
and exercising his reason thereon, has this consolation : he 
is convinced that no such abominable transaction ever was 
committed ; that Moses and Jethro's God could not accom- 
plish such labor either for evil or for good ; and that a wise 
and good God would make no attempt to commit such 
abominable wickedness. It is much more rational to con- 
clude, that historians, if they are even called " divinely in- 
spired," lie, than that any such unreasonable acts ever 
occurred. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

SOLOMON. — REHOBOAM. 

As soon as Solomon obtained power, he showed himself 
to be a ferocious, unprincipled tyrant. " And Adonijah, the 
son of Haggith, came to Bath-sheba, the mother of Solo- 
mon. And she said, Comest thou peaceably? And he 
said, Peaceably. And he said, moreover, I have somewhat 
to say unto thee. And she said, Say on. And he said, 
Thou knowest that the kingdom was mine, and that all Is- 
rael set their faces on me, that I should reign : howbeit the 
kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's : for 
it was his from the Lord. And now I ask one petition of 
thee ; deny me not. And she said unto him, Say on. And 
he said, Speak, I pray thee, unto Solomon the king, (for he 
will not say thee nay,) that he give me Abishag, the Shu- 
nammite, to wife. And Bath-sheba said, Well, I will speak 
for thee unto the king. Bath-sheba therefore went unto 



142 TRUE HISTORY OF 

King Solomon, to speak unto him for Adonijah. And 
the king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself unto her, 
and sat down on his throne, and caused a seat to be set for 
the king's mother ; and she sat on his right hand. Then 
she said, I desire one small petition of thee ; I pray thee 
say me not nay. And the king said unto her, Ask on, my 
mother, for I will not say thee nay. And she said, Let 
Abishag, the Shunammite, be given to Adonijah, thy brother, 
to wife. And King Solomon answered and said unto his 
mother, And why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, 
for Adonijah ? ask for him the kingdom also ; for he is my 
elder brother. Then King Solomon sware by the Lord, 
saying, God do so to me, and more also, if Adonijah hath 
not spoken this word against his own life. Now, therefore, 
as the Lord liveth, which hath established me, and set me 
on the throne of David, my father, and who hath made me 
a house, as he promised, Adonijah shall be put to death this 
day. And King Solomon sent by the hand of Benaiah, the 
son of Jehoiada ; and he fell upon him, that he died." 
(1 Kings i. 1 ; ii. 13-25.) 

When Joab was told that Adonijah was murdered, he 
" fled unto the tabernacle of the Lord, and caught hold on 
the horns of the altar ; " but Solomon sent Benaiah, who 
appears to have been his principal assassin, and had Joab 
murdered in that situation, notwithstanding the pretended 
sacredness of the place. Solomon commanded Shimei to 
build himself a house in Jerusalem, and there to live, and 
not to go any where ; that if he ever crossed the brook 
Kedron he should be put to death. Three years after that 
command was given, two of Shimei's servants ran away, 
and he, being informed that they were in a certain place, 
went for them and brought them home ; whereupon some 
of the king's informers gave him information of Shimei's 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 143 

having been out of the city. " So the king commanded 
Benaiah ; which went out and fell upon him, that he died." 
The judgment which Solomon gave between two contend- 
ing harlots is said to have given him great renown for wis- 
dom throughout his whole kingdom ; yet it was not a matter 
that required great wisdom. It required some knowledge 
of human nature to ascertain the truth between them. But 
his actions generally testify that he knew but little of hu- 
man nature, except its depravity ; not knowing or caring to 
know that that depravity had been induced by the tyranny 
of rulers, supported and assisted by the hypocrisy and false 
teachings of priests among the many. "The queen of 
Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name 
of the Lord : she came to prove him with hard questions." 
(1 Kings x. 1.) And it is said that he answered her ques- 
tions to her satisfaction ; but as these questions and answers 
are not stated, we have no means of knowing whether they 
were wise or foolish ; but we do know that, generally, there 
are more hard foolish questions asked than hard wise ones ; 
and wise questions are sometimes answered very foolishly* 
But that which the queen appeared most to admire, and 
which seemed to affect her most, was the magnificent style 
in which the king lived. " And when the queen of Sheba 
had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had 
built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his ser- 
vants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their ap- 
parel, and his cupbearers^ and his ascent by which he 
went up into the house of the Lord, there was no more 
spirit in her." (1 Kings x. 4, 5.) And certainly, if pomp 
and show, supported by tyranny and injustice, is proof of 
wisdom, Solomon was very wise ; for " Solomon had three- 
score and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore 
thousand hewers in the mountains. ,, 



144 TRUE HISTORY OF 

" Besides the chiefs of Solomon's officers which were over 
the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled 
over the people that wrought in the work. And all King 
Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels 
of the house of Lebanon were of pure gold ; none were 
of silver ; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solo- 
mon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish, with 
the navy of Hiram. Once in three years came the navy 
of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and 
peacocks. And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as 
stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that 
are in the vale, for abundance. (1 Kings v. 15, 1G ; x. 21, 
22, 27.) And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen ; 
and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and 
twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in the char- 
iots, and with the king at Jerusalem. And Solomon had 
four thousand stalls for horses and chariots." (1 Chron. 
i. 4 ; ix. 25.) 

But there is a much larger account of that article, stall, 
given in Kings. It is there said, — 

"And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for 
his chariots. And Solomon's provision for one day was 
thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of 
meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, 
and a hundred sheep, besides harts, and roebucks, and fal- 
low deer, and fatted fowl." (1 Kings iv. 22, 23, 26.) 

How many others besides the queen of Sheba, from her 
time to the present, there have been that have discovered 
great wisdom in Solomon's tyranny and oppression I know 
not ; but certain it is that generally all rulers of the people 
in every country have endeavored to follow his example, so 
far as they could swindle and force means from the people 
that would enable them to do so; and they have been 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA, 145 

almost universally successful in carrying out their nefarious 
schemes against the people, and have always been upheld 
and assisted by the clergy. Notwithstanding that Solomon 
equalled, perhaps, any other individual that ever lived in 
swindling and tyrannizing over the people, he appears not 
to have been satisfied with that notoriety, but seems to have 
been ambitious to let the world know that he could exceed 
all others in lewdness and debauchery. " But King Solo- 
mon loved many strange women, together with the daugh- 
ters of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, 
Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites. And he had seven 
hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines. 
(1 Kings xi. 1.) 

Solomon's son, Rehoboam, after he ascended his father's 
throne, showed himself to be worthy of such a father. 

* And Rehoboam took him Mahalath, the daughter of 
Jerimoth, the son of David, to wife ; Abihail, the daughter 
of Eliab, the son of Jesse, which bare him children, Jeush, 
and Shamariah, and Zaham. And after her he took Maa- 
chah, the daughter of Absalom, which bare him Abijah, 
and Attai, and Ziza, and Shelomith. And Rehoboam loved 
Maachah, the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and 
his concubines ; for he took eighteen wives and threescore 
concubines, and begat twenty and eight sons and threescore 
daughters." (2 Chron. xi. 18-21.) 

Respecting the Proverbs and Songs of Solomon, it is 
said, "And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his 
songs were a thousand and five." (1 Kings iv. 32.) There 
are not so many published, but we may reasonably suppose 
that those published were considered the best. There are 
of the Proverbs, I suppose, (for I have not counted them,) 
about one thousand published. There are thirty-one chap- 
ters, and, from a general view, I think they will average 
13 



146 TRUE IHSTORY OF 

something over thirty to a chapter ; and if these thousand 
are the best selected out of three thousand, the other two 
thousand must have been poor affairs indeed. To show 
their general character, and the situation they are entitled 
to in the graduation of morals, I will copy about half, of 
one chapter. 

" There be three things which are too wonderful for me, 
yea, four which I know not — the way of an eagle in the 
air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in 
the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid." 
(Judging from his intimacy with so many women, three 
hundred wives and seven hundred concubines, I would have 
expected that he was well acquainted with " the way of a 
man with a maid.") " For three things the earth is dis- 
quieted, and four which it cannot bear : For a servant when 
he reigneth, and a fool when he is filled with meat ; for an 
odious woman when she is married, and a handmaid that is 
heir to her mistress. There are four things which are little 
upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise : The ants are 
a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the 
summer ; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make 
their houses in the rocks ; the locusts have no king, yet 
they go forth all of them by bands ; the spider taketh hold 
with her hands, and is in kings' palaces. There be three 
things that go well, yea, four are comely in going : a lion, 
which is the strongest among beasts, and turneth not away 
for any ; a greyhound, a he goat, and a king against whom 
there is no rising up." (Pro v. xxx. 18-31.) 

Of the thousand Songs of Solomon, spoken of in Kings, 
there appear to be but eight published, and, as in the case 
of the Proverbs, we may reasonably suppose that these are 
of the best — that is, they were considered such as could 
be rendered most subservient to the interest of the clergy, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 147 

who, for hundreds of years, published almost every thing 
that was published ; and recollect, that the extent of publi- 
cation of all the things contained in the book called the 
" Holy Bible" was determined on after the establishment of 
the Christian religion, and at a time when the priesthood 
had almost universal sway where the publication took place. 
It appears to me almost impossible that there can be a more 
shameless imposition than the headings of these songs, 
which headings are evidently the conjurations of the clergy. 
Let any person of common sense read the headings, and 
then read the songs, and see if he can find any likeness 
or connection between them. This want of connection is 
easily understood when it is recollected that the songs 
were written a thousand years before the headings were 
conjured out for them ; and the conduct and writings of the 
author of these songs show that he had no idea that there 
ever would be such things take place as those referred to in 
these headings. I will here copy one of these songs, with 
its heading, and first give the heading : " Christ setteth 
forth the graces of the church. He showeth his love to 
her. The church prayeth to be made fit for his presence." 
Second, the song : 

" Behold, thou art fair, my love ; behold, thou art fair ; 
thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks ; thy hair is as a 
flock of goats, that appear from Mount Gilead. Thy teeth 
are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which come 
up from the washing, whereof every one bear twins, and 
none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of 
scarlet, and thy speech is comely. Thy temples are like a 
piece of pomegranate within thy locks. Thy neck is like 
the tower of David builded for an armory, whereon there 
hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy 



148 TRUE HISTORY OF 

two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which 

feed among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows 

flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and the 

hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love ; there is 

no spot in thee. Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, 

with me from Lebanon ; look from the top of Amana, from 

the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from 

the mountains of the leopards. Thou hast ravished my 

heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast ravished my heart 

with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How 

fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse ! how much better is 

thy love than wine ! and the smell of thine ointments than 

all spices ! Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb ; 

honey and milk are under thy tongue ; and the smell of thy 

garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed 

is my sister, my spouse ; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant 

fruits; camphire, with spikenard; spikenard and saffron; 

calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; 

myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices : a fountain of 

gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. 

Awake, O north wind ; and come, thou south ; blow upon 

my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my 

beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits." 

(Solomon's Songs iv. 1-16.) 

These songs are strictly congenial with the character, as 
exhibited by his actions, of Solomon, containing many vo- 
luptuous allusions, and were no doubt love ditties written 
by him to favorite women. Some of them carry the ap- 
pearance of having been written by some of his women to 
him ; but in booking them they have been credited to him. 
It is an insult to common sense to hold out any idea that a 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA, 



149 



man who had seven hundred wives and three hundred con- 
cubines employed himself in writing songs to eulogize per- 
sons and institutions that came into existence a thousand 
years after he was dead. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

JESUS CHRIST. — HIS APOSTLES. — DIFFERENT 
OPINIONS CONCERNING HIM. 

If we had any tolerably correct history of the sayings 
and doings of Jesus Christ, I doubt not but that his charac- 
ter would appear that of a talented, honest, virtuous man. 
There was nothing of his life written till at least thirty 
years after his death, even if those writings were the work 
of those persons whose names they bear, which is very ques- 
tionable, as I think I shall make appear. Recollect, also, 
that those histories, or pretended histories, only existed in 
separate manuscripts some hundreds of years, and were 
copied and recopied all the time under the poisonous control 
of tyrants and clergy, before they were compiled in a book. 
As to Jesus's pretending to a divine mission, he was ex- 
cusable if he did ; for Moses and his successors had, by 
their impositions, rendered the mass of the people so super- 
stitious that the most talented and best of men could have 
had no influence or done any good unless they were sup- 
posed to have a mission from Heaven. Some say that he 
could not write, but that I doubt ; for he appears to have 
been well acquainted with the laws, ceremonies, and abuses 
13* 



150 TRUE HISTORY OF 

of the Jews, and his main object was to curtail the power 
of the clergy, and to reform the abuses committed by them ; 
for the principal officer of the government, Pilate, could 
find no charge of guilt against him. We may therefore 
conclude that he did not attempt to extend his reformation 
to any important principle of the government, but mainly 
to curtail the power, influence, and abuses of the clergy, 
which brought upon him the vindictive and tyrannical dis- 
pleasure of that order, and it was through their influence 
over the people that he was put to death. 

" Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate 
said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you, 
Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ ? (For he knew 
that for envy they delivered him.) But the chief priests and 
elders persuaded the multitude they should ask Barabbas, 
and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto 
them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you ? 
They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall 
I do then with Jesus, which is called Christ ? They all say 
unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, 
Why, what evil hath he done ? But they cried out the 
more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that 
he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, 
he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, 
saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person : see 
you to it. Then answered all the people, and said, His 
blood be on us, and on our children." (Matt, xxvii. 17-25.) 

It also appears that his family must have been educated, 
for his brother Simon was made Bishop of Jerusalem in the 
year 62, and was crucified under Trajan in the year 107. 
Nor is it probable that those he selected as his apostles, or 
assistants, were of the lowest order of society ; for Matthew 
(who, according to the arrangement of the present " New 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 151 

Testament," has written either the first or best history of 
Jesus Christ that has been written) was a tax gatherer, 
and was " sitting at the receipt of custom" when Jesus 
called him ; and Peter and Andrew, James and John, being 
fishermen is no proof of their being of low grade in society. 
James and John were in a ship with their father Zebedee, 
mending their nets ; so we may reasonably conclude that 
the father and sons were the owners of the ship and the 
fishing apparatus which they used, and that all those fish- 
ermen were owners of the fisheries at which they were 
fishing. The governor appears to have had no charge 
against Jesus, but considered him a "just person;" and no 
doubt he intended to have used his faculties in endeavoring 
to reform the impositions and abuses saddled upon his coun- 
trymen chiefly by hypocrisy and false teachings ; and it is 
likely he would have accomplished much good had it not 
been for the vindictive persecution of the clergy, which 
caused him and most of his assistants to be put to death. 

James, the son of Zebedee, was put to death in the year 
44 ; James, the brother of Simon, was put to death in the 
year 62 ; Jude, the brother of James and Simon, was put 
to death in the year 80 ; Matthew, it is supposed, was put 
to death, but I have never seen any statement as to the 
time. It must have been after the year 64, for, according 
to Dr. Lardner, Matthew wrote his Gospel in that year. 
Paul was put to death in the year 66 ; Peter was crucified 
in the year 6Q ; Simon the apostle, surnamed Zelotes, was 
put to death, the time given. 

The almost innumerable different opinions among man- 
kind, and even among those calling themselves Christians, 
concerning Jesus Christ, is strong evidence against his be- 
ing a God ; for if a God he certainly could, and if a just and 
good being he certainly would, give to all mankind such 



152 TRUE IIISTORY OF 

clear and unmistakable evidence of who and what he is, 
and how he wishes us to conduct ourselves towards him, 
that none could ignorantly err. Perhaps the clergy will 
say that he has done so; if they do, they will say that 
which they know not to be so ; for they do know that there 
are thousands of honest, upright, good persons that differ, 
and widely too, on that subject. You do not understand 
the evidence, say these learned gentlemen ; we will ex- 
plain it to you. Then it is not unmistakably plain. But, 
gentlemen, you differ among yourselves, and essentially too ; 
but, notwithstanding you are not agreed among yourselves, 
if we will submit our necks to your yoke, and pay you weD, 
you will no doubt condescend to tell us something, and each 
of you will tell differently ; and if we submit your teach- 
ings to the test of reason, experience, and common sense, 
we will likely discover that we have received no true 
knowledge. 

I can speak for myself. I attended clerical preachings 
more than sixty years, as honestly desiring to know the 
truth as any of them ; and I cannot discover that I have 
ever received any true knowledge through clerical teach- 
ings. It is estimated that there are eight hundred millions 
of human beings on the earth : one hundred and seventy- 
five and a half millions of Christians ; two and a half mil- 
lions of Jews ; one hundred and forty millions Mahom- 
etans ; and four hundred and eighty-two millions Pagans ; 
so that less than one fourth of the whole number are 
claimed as having any pretensions to Christianity ; and of 
these there are some millions, no wise inferior to the others 
either in wisdom, virtue, or benevolence, who reject the 
divinity of Jesus Christ. Thomas Bobbins, who was, when 
he wrote largely, " minister of the gospel in East Windsor, 
Connecticut," said, " Trinitarians include all that portion of 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 153 

Christians who believe in the Trinity of the Godhead. 
They believe that the Deity exists three persons in one 
God. I know of no better definition of this doctrine than 
that with which we are so familiar — " There are three per- 
sons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost ; and these three are one God, the same in substance, 
equal in power and glory." 

In the absence of the presiding judge, the three associate 
judges, John, James, and Jacob, formed the court, or, if you 
please, the court-head — " the same in substance, equal in 
power and glory." By what arithmetic do you make these 
three one ? The same Mr. Bobbins said, " The Socinians 
assert that Christ was simply a man, and consequently had 
no existence before his appearance in the worl.d. The 
Arians maintain that Christ was a superangelic being, 
united to a human body ; that himself created, he was the 
creator of all other things under God, and the instrument 
of all the divine communications to the patriarchs." 

Theophilus Lindsey, born 1723, took his degrees in arts 
at Cambridge, and obtained, after other preferments, the 
valuable living of Catterick, in Yorkshire ; which, however, 
he resigned in 1773, having embraced the Socinian system ; 
he died in 1808, aged 85 years. Of Jesus Christ he said, 
" I cannot make him the supreme God, nor invoke or pray 
to him as such ; because I am persuaded that if he could 
hear, and make himself known to me, he would call out 
from heaven, as he did formerly to Paul, ' I am Jesus of 
Nazareth ; one w r ho was once a mortal man like yourself: 
worship God.' " The Unitarians say, that " there is no 
such thing as a Trinitarian Christian mentioned, or sup- 
posed, in the New Testament; all therein named being 
perfect Unitarians — Jesus himself, his apostles, and all his 
followers." 



154 TRUE HISTORY OP 

Besides the many different opinions concerning Jesus 
among those calling themselves Christians, there are thou- 
sands in every civilized nation that acknowledge the exist- 
ence of one God, but reject all ideas of a plurality of 
persons to constitute that God. Neither do they believe 
that God has ever made any written revelation to mankind ; 
they offer him no outward ceremonial worship ; they do 
not believe that an infinitely wise and infinitely good being 
can be influenced by entreaties and prayers ; that they show, 
in those who address them, a want of confidence in the 
wisdom or the goodness of the being to whom they are 
addressed. These people of course employ no clergy ; there- 
fore the whole order, the high, the low, the wise, the igno- 
rant, all agree in traducing and continually sending forth 
anathemas against Deists. Nearly all the most talented and 
learned of the Chinese are in reality Deists. They receive 
the precepts of Confucius, not as from a divine being, but as 
from a very wise, just, and virtuous man. The idol wor- 
ship kept up there, is to make easy the governing of the 
ignorant, who are in every country, from long habit, easier 
governed by ridiculous forms and ceremonies than they are 
by truth and reason. The clergy in China are said to be 
generally of low extraction, except the high priest, who 
always keeps near the body of the emperor. They are 
required not to marry so long as they remain in office, but 
they can resign their office at any time they please. The 
high priest is allowed to marry, because the office is inhe- 
rent in the same family; and it is said to have descended 
unbroken in the family of the present high priest more than 
a thousand years. 

About three years ago we had accounts from China which 
stated that an edict had been issued by the prefect of one 
of the provinces against Christianity, as illegal, incredible, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 155 

and absurd. If the object of the leaders and directors of 
the revolution now going on in China is really to free the 
people, they will govern, so far as the state of the people 
will justify, by the wise, just, and virtuous precepts of Con- 
fucius ; but if they only intend to destroy the present des- 
potism, to build upon its ruins a new one, then it is likely 
they will embrace the Christian religion, which in its pres- 
ent state, throughout the world, is better calculated to sup- 
port tyranny than any system of religion that has ever been 
devised. 

About forty-five years ago I went to the Methodist meet- 
ing house on Fell's Point, city of Baltimore. Mr. Nicho- 
las Snethen (I am not certain that I have his surname quite 
right, but think I have) preached. He was a good speaker, 
a talented man, and, I believe, well educated ; and, I pre- 
sume, stood high with his sect, for he frequently travelled 
with their bishop. It was Christmas day ; of course the 
purport of his sermon was to exhibit the circumstances of 
the birth of Jesus Christ. In the course of his sermon he 
observed, that the generally received opinion among Chris- 
tians was, that Christ was born in a manger, which opinion, 
he said, was not correct ; that he was born in a cave ; also 
the opinion that he was born of very poor parents was in- 
correct ; that his parents were wealthy. These assertions 
he supported by reasons and authorities which I now do not 
recollect. The doctrine was evidently new to most of his 
hearers, if not to all. Some of the rigid professors of his 
sect were much displeased, and expressed great astonish- 
ment that brother Snethen should introduce such new- 
fangled doctrines into his sermon. The doctrine was as 
new to me as to any of them ; but from the general char- 
acter of Mr. Snethen, I did not doubt but that he had, what 
he considered, good authority for his opinions. I had not 



156 TRUE HISTORY OF 

then read the "Apocryphal New Testament;" there I 
find, — 

" In the three hundred and ninth year of the era of 
Alexander, Augustus published a decree that all persons 
should go to be taxed in their own country. Joseph there- 
fore arose, and with Mary, his spouse, he went to Jerusalem, 
that he and his family might be taxed in the city of his 
fathers. And when they came to the cave, Mary confessed 
to Joseph that her time of bringing forth was come, and 
she could not go on to the city, and said, Let us go into this 
cave. At that time the sun was very near going down. 
But Joseph hastened away that he might fetch a midwife ; 
and when he saw an old Hebrew woman, who was of Jerusa- 
lem, he said to her, Pray come hither, good woman, and go 
into that cave, and you will there see a woman just ready to 
bring forth. It was after sunset when the old woman, and 
Joseph with her, reached the cave ; and they both went into 
it. And behold it was all filled with lights, greater than the 
lights of lamps and candles, and greater than the light of 
the sun itself. The infant was then wrapped up in swaddling 
clothes, and sucking the breast of his mother St. Mary. 
When they both saw this light they were surprised; the 
old woman asked St. Mary, Art thou the mother of this 
child ? St. Mary replied she was : on which the old woman 
said, Thou art very different from all other women. St. 
Mary answered As there is not any child like to my son, 
so neither is there any woman like to his mother. The old 
woman answered and said, O my lady, I am come hither 
that I may obtain an everlasting reward. Then our lady 
St. Mary said to her, Lay thine hands upon the infant ; 
which when she had done, she became whole. And as she 
was going forth, she said, From henceforth, all the days of 
my life, I will attend upon and be a servant of this infant." 
(Matt. i. 1-18.) 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 157 

This account of the birth of Jesus Christ coincides fully 
with the declarations of Mr. Snethen, and shows that he 
considered this book high authority, if not canonical. There 
are other books in this New Testament in which it is stated 
he was born in a cave. 

Respecting the wealth of his parents, it is stated, " The 
blessed and glorious Virgin Mary sprang from the royal 
race and family of David ; was born in the city of Naza- 
reth, and educated at Jerusalem, in the temple of the Lord. 
Her fathers name was Joachim, and her mother's Anna. 
The family of her father was of Galilee and the city of 
Nazareth. The family of her mother was of Bethlehem. 
Their lives were plain and right in the sight of the Lord, 
pious and faultless before men. For they divided their 
substance into three parts ; one of which they devoted to 
the temple and the officers of the temple ; another they dis- 
tributed among strangers and persons in poor circumstances ; 
and the third they reserved for themselves and the uses of 
their own family. In this manner they lived about twenty 
years chastely in the favor of God and the esteem of men." 
(Matt. i. 1-5.) 

It is also stated in the Protevangelion, or an Historical 
Account of the Birth of Christ, and the Perpetual Vir- 
gin Mary, his Mother; by James the Lesser, Cousin and 
Brother of the Lord Jesus, chief Apostle and first Bishop 
of the Christians in Jerusalem, — 

"In the history of the twelve tribes of Israel, we read there 
was a certain person called Joachim, who, being very rich, 
made double offerings to the Lord God, having made this 
resolution, My substance shall be for the benefit of the whole 
people, and that I may find mercy from the Lord God for 
the forgiveness of my sins." (Prot. i. 1.) 

As it appears by these gospels, or histories, that Mary 
14 



158 TRUE HISTORY OF 

was the only child that Joachim ever had, and that he wa9 
very rich, the reasonable conclusion is, that she was rich. 
These books are called apocryphal, because their divinity 
is doubted ; at the present day they are denied by almost 
all Christians. For myself, I consider them -standing on an 
equal footing with those which are generally called canoni- 
cal ; each containing some correct views, and some truth, 
mixed up with a great quantity of error and falsehood. 

The compiler of the Apocryphal New Testament says, 
"This Gospel is ascribed to James. The allusions to it 
in the ancient fathers are frequent, and their expressions 
indicate that it had obtained a very general credit in the 
Christian world. The controversies founded on it chiefly 
relate to the age of Joseph at the birth of Christ, and to 
his being a widower, with children, before his marriage with 
the Virgin Mary. Chap. vi. 1, it is said that Joseph was very 
far advanced in years. It seems material to remark, that 
the legends of the latter ages affirm the virginity of Joseph, 
notwithstanding Epiphanius, Hilary, Chrysostom, Cyril, Eu- 
thymius, Theophylact, GEcumerius, and indeed all the Latin 
fathers till Ambrose, and the Greek fathers afterwards, 
maintained the opinions of Joseph's age and family, founded 
upon belief in the authenticity of this book. It is supposed 
to have been originally composed in Hebrew. Postellus 
brought the manuscript of this Gospel from the Levant, and 
translated it into Latin, and sent it to Oporinus, a printer at 
Basil, where Bibliander, a Protestant divine, and the pro- 
fessor of divinity at Zurich, caused it to be printed in 1552. 
Postellus asserts that it was publicly read as canonical in 
the Eastern churches, they making no doubt that James was 
the author of it. It is, nevertheless, considered apocryphal 
by some of the most learned divines in the Protestant and 
Catholic churches. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 159 

By the history of the above book, and the different opin- 
ions concerning it by those who pretend to have unques- 
tionable evidence on the subject of canonical and apocryphal 
books, we may form some idea how much confidence any of 
those books, whether called canonical or apocryphal, are 
entitled to. I will give sketches from Lempriere of the 
above-named fathers, &.c. " Epiphanius, Bishop of Sala- 
mus, in Cyprus, born 332, and died 403. He was very 
conversant in ecclesiastical antiquities, on which account he 
is chiefly regarded. . . . Hilary, St., a native of Poic- 
tiers, in France, bishop of that town, in 355, was banished 
by Constantius into Phrygia, and died in 367. . . . 
Chrysostom, John, so called from his eloquence, was born at 
Antioch, of a noble family, about 354 ; consecrated Bishop 
of Constantinople in 398, and died in 407. The works of 
this father are very voluminous. . . . Cyril of Jeru- 
salem, one of the fathers, died in 386. . . . Euthym- 
ius, an Isaurian, made Patriarch of Constantinople in 906. 
He was displaced, and died in exile, 910 or 911. . . . The- 
ophylact, a native of Constantinople, Metropolitan of Bul- 
garia in the 11th century. He wrote a commentary on the 
Gospels, &c. . . . (Ecumenius, a Greek writer of the 
10th century. . . . Ambrose, St., an eminent father 
of the church, born in Gaul, 333. The birth of Ambrose 
is said to have been followed by a remarkable presage of 
his future eloquence ; for we are told that a swarm of bees 
came and settled upon his mouth as he lay in his cradle. He 
died at Milan, 397, and w 7 as buried in the great church 
there. Ambrose carried the esteem of virginity and celibacy 
so far, that he seemed to regard matrimony as an indecent 
thing. . . . Bibliander, Theodore, professor of theolo- 
gy at Zurich, died in 1564." 



1G0 TRUE niSTORY OF 

This bee story reminds me of another statement of Lem- 
priere, nearly of the same category. 

"Heinecker, Christian Henry, an extraordinary youth, 
born at Lubeck in 1721. He spoke his maternal tongue 
fluently at ten months ; at one year old he knew the prin- 
cipal events of the Pentateuch; in two months more he 
was master of the entire history of the Old and New Tes- 
taments ; at two years and a half he answered the principal 
questions in geography, and in ancient and modern history. 
He spoke Latin and French, German and Low Dutch, 
with great facility, before the commencement of his fourth 
year, 1725, in which he died. His constitution was so deli- 
cate, that he was not weaned till a few months before his 
death." 

Such scraps of history will, I should suppose, make 
every person who wishes to arrive at the truth, submit 
every historical statement to the test of reason. If it will 
abide that test, it may be received ; for, if it should ulti- 
mately prove untrue, its having the assertion of history, and 
being reasonable, will certainly justify us in having believed 
it, so long as we found no good evidence against it ; but if 
contrary to reason, it ought to be rejected, until we find 
some more reliable evidence in its favor than historical 
assertion. If modern history, which has the advantage of 
printing, making it very hard to alter or suppress facts once 
published, is so very questionable, ancient history must be 
a hundred fold more so, for it was in manuscript hundreds 
of years, in the hands of persons who could alter or sup- 
press it at will. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSIIUA. 161 



CHAPTER XIX. 
THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 

The Testaments, Old and New, Canonical and Apocry- 
phal, carry on their face indubitable evidence that no infi- 
nitely wise, infinitely powerful, and infinitely good Being 
had any thing to do in the manufacturing of them. The 
Old Testament is such a work as we might reasonably ex- 
pect to be produced by such a being as Moses's God, when 
under the control of such men as Moses and Aaron, and 
the successors of Moses and Aaron in office up to the time 
of the completion of the work ; whether they were called 
elders, prophets, or kings. And the New Testament is such 
a work as reason would teach us to expect from men who 
had suffered under the errors, falsehoods, and tyranny of 
the Old Testament, but who had too superstitious a rever- 
ence for the individuals who manufactured that work to be 
able to clearly see the origin of the errors, falsehood, and 
tyranny under which they suffered. Therefore, in attempt- 
ing to reform the abuses of their times, they produced a 
work which enlarged those abuses, and entailed them upon 
their posterity down to the present day ; or, more correctly 
speaking, they produced the materials out of which that work 
has been framed, and it was put together some two to four 
hundred years after they had left the scene of action. 

It is not quite certain by what council or at what time 

the New Testament was formed; that* is to say, by what 

council or at what time the books which now compose the 

New Testament were collected into one volume. But it is 

14* 



162 TRUE HISTORY OF 

now, I believe, pretty generally conceded, that it was done 
by the first council of Nice; which council consisted of 
about three hundred bishops, and was held early in the 
fourth century, under the authority of Constantine, the 
Emperor of Rome. The editor of the Apocryphal New 
Testament, in his preface to the second edition of that 
work> says, — 

" But the editor has been charged with expressing too 
little veneration for the council of the church. He feels 
none. It is true, that respecting the three hundred bishops 
assembled at the council of Nice, the Emperor Constantine 
says, that < what was approved by these bishops could be 
nothing less than the determination of God himself; since 
the Holy Spirit, residing in such great and worthy souls, 
unfolded to them the divine will.' Yet Sabinus, the Bishop 
of Herclea, affirms that ' excepting Constantine himself, 
and Eusebius Pamphilus, they were a set of illiterate, sim- 
ple creatures, that understood nothing ; ' and Pappus * seems 
to have estimated them very low, for in his Synodicon to 
that council, he tells us, that ' having promiscuously put all 
the books that were referred to the council for determina- 
tion under the communion table in a church, they besought 
the Lord that the inspired writings might get upon top of 
the table, w r hile the spurious ones remained underneath, and 
that it happened accordingly.' A commentator (Francis 
Mace) on this legend suggests, that nothing less than such 
a sight could sanctify that fiery zeal which breathes through- 
out an edict published by Constantine, in which he decrees 
that all the writings of Arius should be burned, and that 
any person concealing any writing composed by him, and 

* Pappus — A philosopher and author, of Alexandria, in the fourth 
century. — Lcmpriere. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 1G3 

not immediately producing it, and committing to the flames, 
should be punished with death.' , 

This account may serve to show what kind of stuff coun- 
cils were made of, and how they were conducted in the 
early age of the church. I will give some account of one, 
comparatively of modern date, the council of Trent, in 
1545. This council, Father Paul, who wrote a history of 
it, says, "was for divers ends, and by divers means, pro- 
cured and hastened, hindered and deferred, for two and 
twenty years, and for eighteen more was sometimes assem- 
bled and sometimes dissolved." Sir Nathan Brent, a native 
of Wolford, Warwickshire, who died in 1652, a translator 
of Paul's history of that council, says, " It would be infi- 
nite to relate the stratagems the bishops of Pome used to 
divert the council before it began ; their postings to and 
fro, to hinder the proposing of those things which they 
thought would diminish their profit or pull down their 
pride ; and their policies to inthrall the prelates, and to 
procure a majority of voices." It is stated by that gen- 
erally correct historian, Lewis Guicciardini, that, "as the 
priests were raised step by step to earthly power, they 
cared less and less for religious precepts. Using their 
spiritual only as an instrument of their temporal authority, 
their business was no more sanctity of life, increase of 
religion, and love and charity towards their neighbors, but 
fomenting wars among Christians, and employing all arts 
and snares to scrape money together, and making new laws 
against the people" 

It appears that there are known to have been one hundred 
and twenty-one books, under the names of Gospels, Epis- 
tles, Revelations, &c, &c, written as the history, views, 
doings, sayings, &c, of Jesus Christ. Of these we have 
twenty-seven, selected by somebody, and made into one 



1G4 TRUE HISTORY OF 

volume, called the New Testament, and declared canonical, 
and that they were written by divine authority. The ques- 
tion naturally arises, By whom was this done? The answer, 
perhaps, will be, By the church ; but where did the church 
get such high authority ? The clergy say, from God. Yes, 
but it was from Moses's God, a personage who, as I have 
before shown, had little wisdom, limited power, and no good- 
ness. I will give a catalogue of the one hundred and 
twenty-one books mentioned. 

First, the twenty-seven that constitute the New Testa- 
ment ; second, the twenty -four published as the Apocryphal 
New Testament ; and third, the seventy that are known to 
have existed, but are now lost. Those of the New Testament 

— Matthew, Mark, Luke, John ; the Acts, Epistle to the 
Romans, 1st Corinthians, 2d Corinthians, Galatians, Ephe- 
sians, Fhilippians, Colossians, 1st Thessalonians, 2d Thes- 
salonians, 1st Timothy, 2d Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Epis- 
tle to the Hebrews, Epistle to James, 1st Peter, 2d Peter, 
1st John, 2d John, 3d John, Jude, Revelation. Those of 
the Apocryphal New Testament — Mary, Protevangelion, 
1st Infancy, 2d Infancy, Christ and Abgarus, Nicodemus, 
Apostles' Creed in its ancient state, Laodiceans, Paul and 
Seneca, Paul and Thecla, 1st Corinthians, 2d Corinthians, 
Barnabas, Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Phil- 
adelphians, Smyrnans, Polycarp, Philippians, 1st Hermas 

— Visions, 2d Hermas — Commands, 3d Hermas — Simili- 
tudes. 

Those that are lost I take from a List of the Apocry- 
phal Pieces not now extant, mentioned by writers in the first 
four centuries of Christ, with the several works wherein 
they are cited or noticed, by the Rev. Jeremiah Jones.* In 

* Jeremiah Jones — A dissenting divine, and author, died in 1724.— 
Lempriere. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 165 

this list there are a great many writers and works referred 
to by the author. These I have not copied, but only the 
names or titles of the books or pieces lost : the Acts of 
Andrew ; books under the name of Andrew ; the Gospel of 
Andrew ; a Gospel under the name of Apelles ; the Gospel 
according to the twelve Apostles ; the Gospel of Barnabas ; 
the Writings of Bartholomew the Apostle ; the Gospel of 
Bartholomew ; the Gospel of Basilides ; the Gospel of Ce- 
rinthus, the Revelation of Cerinthus ; an Epistle of Christ 
to Peter and Paul ; some other books under the name of 
Christ ; an Epistle of Christ, produced by the Manichees ; 
a Hymn which Christ taught his Disciples ; the Gospel ac- 
cording to the Egyptians ; the Acts of the Apostles, made 
use of by the Ebionites ; the Gospel of the Ebionites ; the 
Gospel of the Encratites ; the Gospel of Eve ; the Gospel 
according to the Hebrews ; the Book of the Helkesaites ; 
the false Gospels of Hesychius ; the Book of James ; books 
forged and published under the name of James ; the Acts 
of John ; books under the name of John ; a Gospel under 
the name of Jude ; a Gospel under the name of Judas Is- 
cariot ; the Acts of the Apostles by Lucius ; the Acts of the 
Apostles by Lintitius ; the Books of Lintitius ; the Acts 
under the Apostle's name, by Leontius ; the Acts of the 
Apostles, by Leuthon ; the false Gospels, published by Lu- 
cianus ; the Acts of the Apostles, used by the Manichees ; 
the Gospel of Marcion ; books under the name of Matthew ; 
the Gospel of Matthias ; the Traditions of Matthias ; a book 
under the name of Matthias ; the Gospel of Merinthus ; the 
Gospel according to the Nazarenes ; the Acts of Paul and 
Thecla ; the Acts of Paul ; the Preaching of Paul (and 
Peter;) a book under the name of Paul ; the Revelation of 
Paul ; the Gospel of Perfection ; the Acts of Peter ; the Doc- 
trine of Peter ; the Gospel of Peter ; the Judgment of Pe- 
ter ; the Preaching of Peter ; the Revelation of Peter ; books 



166 TRUE HISTORY OF 

under the name of Peter ; the Acts of Philip ; the Gospel 
of Philip ; the Gospel of Scythianus ; the Acts of the Apos- 
tles by Seleucus ; the Revelation of Stephen ; the Gospel of 
Titian ; the Gospel of Thaddeus ; the Catholic Epistle of 
Themison the Montanist : the Acts of Thomas ; the Reve- 
lation of Thomas ; books under the name of Thomas ; the 
Gospel of Truth ; the Gospel of Valentinus. 

Out of these one hundred and twenty-one pieces, there 
might have been others on the same subject, of which we 
have no account. Some council, synod, person or persons, 
at some time or times, not now known, selected twenty- 
seven, and had them made into one book, called the New 
Testament. Who committed that assumption is not known ; 
but it is known that no such book as that which is called 
the New Testament existed for several hundred years after 
Jesus Christ was crucified. And in some of these twenty- 
seven there have been made alterations, additions, and omis- 
sions since they have constituted that book. One addition 
I will notice, as by some it may be considered very impor- 
tant : " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the 
Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost ; and these three 
are one." (1 John v. 7.) Erasmus is said to have been 
the most learned man of the age in which he lived. In 
1516 and 1519 he published his first and second editions 
of the Greek Testament, both of which omitted the three 
heavenly witnesses. Having promised to insert them in his 
next, if they were found in a single Greek manuscript, he 
was soon informed of the existence of such a manuscript 
in England, and consequently inserted 1st John v. 7 in his 
third edition, 1522. Sir Isaac Newton wrote a dissertation 
upon this passage, wherein he gave a clear, exact, and com- 
prehensive view of the whole question, and wherein he 
says, that " when the adversaries of Erasmus had got the 
Trinity into his edition, they threw by their manuscript 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 167 

as an old almanac out of date." Sir Isaac further observes, 
that " what the Latins have done to this text (1 John v. 7) 
the Greeks have done to Paul. (1 Tim. iii. 16.) They now 
read, ' Great is the mystery of godliness, God manifest in 
the flesh ; ' whereas all the churches for the first four or five 
hundred years, and the authors of all the ancient versions, 
Jerome as well as the rest, read, ' Great is the mystery of 
godliness, which was manifest in the flesh.' Our English 
version makes it yet a little stronger. It reads, ' Great is 
the mystery of godliness : God was manifest in the flesh.' " 

Sir Isaac Newton wrote the " Dissertation " wherein the 
remarks above quoted as his occurred between the years 
1690 and 1700, in the form of a letter to a friend. It was 
imperfectly published in 1754; but Bishop Horsley* print- 
ed the whole from an original manuscript ; and in the bish- 
op's edition Sir Isaac says, — 

" If the ancient churches, in debating and deciding the 
greatest mysteries of religion, knew nothing of these two 
texts, I understand not why we should be so fond of them 
now the debate is over. And while it is the character of 
an honest man to be pleased, and of a man of interest to 
be troubled, at the detection of frauds, and of both to run 
most into those passions when detections are made plainest, 
I hope this letter, to one of your integrity, will prove so 
much the more acceptable, as it makes a further discovery 
than you have hitherto met with in commentaries." 

* Horsley, Samuel, Bishop of St. Asaph. He became one of the 
most eminent men of his day, as a theologian, a mathematician, and a 
profound classic. The reverend prelate was many years a leading mem- 
ber of the Royal Society, but withdrew from it, as has been said, in con- 
sequence of a certain high appointment taking place of which he dis- 
approved. His concluding words on retiring were, " I quit that temple 
where Philosophy once presided, and where Newton was her officiating 
minister." He died October 4, 1806. — Lempriere. 



168 TRUE HISTORY OF 

Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, August 22, 
1813, says, — 

" It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend 
they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one, 
and one is three, and yet that the one is not three, and the 
three are not one. But this constitutes the craft, the power, 
and profit of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fab- 
rics of fictitious religion, and they would catch no more 
flies." 

It is doubtful whether many, if any, of the books which 
now constitute the New Testament were written by the 
persons whose names they severally bear, or at or near the 
time when they are said, by the Bible explainers, to have 
been written ; for as they were laboring under the same 
disadvantages as Jesus labored under, — the persecution of 
the Jewish clergy, — we may reasonably conclude that they 
would be governed by those disadvantages as he was ; that 
if they wished to circulate their doctrine among the people 
at large, for whose interest it was that Jesus commenced his 
reform, they, like him, would not have attempted to have 
done so by writing ; for if the labor of that mode of in- 
structing could have been performed, the writings would 
have been of very little or no use, so very few of the peo- 
ple could then read, and the vigilance of the priests and 
elders had not abated ; so that any writings of those re- 
formers, as early as the four Gospels are said to have been 
written, would almost certainly have been destroyed. Dr. 
Lardner says that Luke wrote his Gospel in the year of 
Jesus Christ 63; Matthew, 64; Mark, 64; John, 68. 
Luke, who, according to Dr. Lardner, wrote the first of the 
four Gospels, though it is not so placed in the volume, pref- 
aces it as follows : — 

" For as many have taken in hand to set forth in order 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 169 

a declaration of those things which are most surely believed 
among us, even as they delivered them unto us which from 
the beginning were eye witnesses, ministers of the word, it 
seemeth good to me also, having had perfect understand- 
ing of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in 
order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know 
the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been in- 
structed," 

It is said that Luke was a physician at Antioch, convert- 
ed to Christianity by the preaching of Paul ; Paul was put 
to death in the year of Christ 66, The difference between 
the ages of Jesus and Paul, I think, could have been but 
little ; and Luke about the same age. Lempriere says 
Theophilus was a writer, and bishop of the primitive 
church, born and educated a heathen, and afterwards con- 
verted to Christianity; he died in the year 182. The 
preface above copied is declared to be a preface to Luke's 
whole Gospel. The writer, in saying " it seemeth good to 
me also, having had perfect understanding of all things 
from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excel- 
lent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty 
of those things wherein thou hast been instructed," shows 
that he was a friend to Theophilus, and wrote that Gospel 
for his instruction ; and in the expression, " that thou 
mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou 
hast been instructed," appears to refer to his conversion 
from heathenism to Christianity. 

Theophilus did not die until the year 182, as Luke was 
about the age of Jesus ; and it would hardly be reasonable 
to suppose that he wrote after he was ninety years old. It 
is therefore pretty evident that the Gospel under his name 
was not written until about sixty to a hundred years after 
he was dead. In making these statements concerning the 
15 



170 TRUE HISTORY OF 

authorship and the time of writing of the books of the New 
Testament, my object is merely to call attention to ancient 
history, whether it be called sacred or profane, wishing each 
person to examine and determine for himself or herself, 
whether any of these histories carry such internal or exter- 
nal evidence of their truth as to justify belief in the truth 
of statements there made, which are, as many of them are, 
contrary to common sense, reason, and experience. Not 
that I consider it of any importance to know who wrote 
those books, or when written ; for it appears to me they 
carry on their face evidence of error, superstition, and 
falsehood. 

We frequently hear it stated as a proof of the truth of 
Christianity that it has not been, like other religions, estab- 
lished by the sword. On that point I consider all religions 
are equal ; none of them used the sword before they were 
strong ; and each of them as soon as they became strong used 
the sword in the bitterest manner. Moses, while his people 
were in Egypt, surrounded by a stronger people, did not 
attempt to use the sword ; but as soon as he got them out 
of Egypt, and had sufficiently established his authority 
over them, he most inhumanly put to death such, whether 
of his own people or others, as dared to refuse or to neglect 
to obey the command of his God. Mahomet for many 
years preached and persuaded among the people, and made 
proselytes very fast ; but when his followers became very 
numerous, he then felt strong, and took the sword. The 
Christians were not strong enough to use the sword until 
they were joined by Constantine, Emperor of Rome, about 
the beginning of the fourth century, who was as infamous a 
tyrant as we have any record of ; yet the clergy have dubbed 
him " Constantine the Great," as an honor, I suppose, for 
his services to the church. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 171 

At one time there were six individuals claiming to be 
Emperor of Rome, two of whom were Maxentius, son of 
Maximian, and brother to Constantine's wife. Maximian 
and his son Maxentius having had some difference, he left 
his son and went to his son-in-law Constantine, who ac- 
cused his father-in-law of plotting against him, and put him 
to death. This was before Constantine turned Christian. 
Maxentius speedily provoked open hostilities with Constan- 
tine, who marched at the head of a powerful army towards 
Rome. It was while Constantine was proceeding on this 
momentous expedition that he made an open and public 
declaration in favor of Christianity. Of course there were 
a great many Christians who joined him and swelled the 
ranks of his army ; , and I presume the battle which was 
then fought between him and Maxentius was the first that 
was ever fought under the cross as a military banner, on 
either side, though perhaps there have been thousands 
fought since under it, as the principal banner on one side. 
The much celebrated Labarum was the standard raised by 
Constantine on that occasion, which standard is thus de- 
scribed : A long pike intersected by a transverse beam ; a 
silken veil of a purple color hung down from the beam, or- 
namented with precious stones. The safety of the Labarum 
was intrusted to fifty guards of approved valor and fidelity. 
The Christian emperors, who respected the example of 
Constantine, displayed in all their military expeditions the 
standard of the cross. Constantine, before he marched 
against Maxentius, made a secret treaty with Licinius, one 
of the six claimants of the empire. He was successful in 
his expedition against Maxentius, and entirely overthrew 
him, who, in attempting to cross a bridge, was drowned in 
the Tiber. After a short stay at Rome, Constantine met 
Licinius at Milan, and there ratified their alliance by giv- 
ing his sister in marriage to Licinius. That produced for 



172 TRUE HISTORY OP 

a while a calm ; but there was yet one other of the six 
claimants, Maximian, who was not subdued. Licinius over- 
threw him, and he died at Nicomedia. Constantine and 
his brother-in-law were then the only two that remained of 
the six competitors for the empire. 

After a while hostilities were commenced between them ; 
Licinius was entirely stripped of his possessions and power, 
and Constantine declared sole master of the Roman world. 
Constantine, before he had the sole command of the em- 
pire, made Crispus, his son by his first wife, his partner in 
the command of his armies. Crispus was at the head of 
the administration in Gaul, where he gained the hearts of 
the people. In the wars against Licinius he displayed sin- 
gular talents, and secured victory to the arms of his father. 
From that moment a shameful and unnatural jealousy stifled 
every paternal feeling in the monarch. He detained Cris- 
pus in his palace, surrounded him with spies and informers, 
and at length had him carried off to Pola, in Istria, and 
there put to death. A cousin of Crispus, the son of Licin- 
ius and Constantine's sister, was at the same time sent, 
without trial, without accusation, to the block. His mother 
implored in vain, and died of grief. Fausta, the daughter 
of Maximian, the wife of Constantine, and the mother of 
the three princes that succeeded him, was shortly after sti- 
fled in the bath by order of her husband. All these acts 
of injustice and murder he committed after he turned 
Christian. Constantine died in the year 337, aged sixty- 
three. 

It appears to me that, after considering the character of 
Constantine, and the circumstances under which he was 
then acting, no person can believe that he espoused Chris- 
tianity for any other purpose than to strengthen his des- 

* : " power. There were four of the six claimants of the 
t e, that were each making some exertion to sustain his 






MOSES, AAKON, AND JOSHUA. 173 

own claim ; and we may reasonably suppose that each of 
them had numerous friends among the people, perhaps 
pretty equally divided. Constantine appears to have been 
a man of more shrewdness, experience, and enterprise than 
either of his competitors, Maxentius, Maximian, Licinius. 
They all being opposed to Christianity, a man of the tal- 
ents of Constantine could not but see, that if he declared in 
favor of Christianity, and raised a banner suited to their 
prejudices, he would unite the whole of the Christians un- 
der his standard; and no doubt he considered that stroke 
of generalship the principal move which enabled him to 
overthrow and destroy Maxentius, his most powerful com- 
petitor, and finally raised him until he was acknowledged 
master of the Roman world. 

And when he became acquainted with the leading prin- 
ciples of that religion, he could not see that the superstition 
and ignorance of the biographers of the original founder of 
it, their declaring him to be a God, &c, had (whatever 
might have been his object) rendered the religion which 
had been framed out of what was declared to be his pre- 
cepts and commands, inefficacious in promoting any thing 
good, that is, any thing that would be of real benefit to soci- 
ety ; and that the veil of mysteries and ceremonies, which 
had been subsequently thrown over it by the clergy, had 
rendered it so obscure, that by a crafty expounder it could 
be made to mean any thing, and prove every thing that the 
preacher or teacher wished to establish ; and therefore the 
pest system of religion to establish and support despotic 
power that ever had been presented to the world. And its 
deleterious influence has been felt from that day to this, in 
the sufferings of justice, humanity, and morality, in every 
country throughout the length and breadth of what is called 
the civilized world. 

15* 



174 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER XX. 

FAITH. — CALVINISM. 

The general Christian doctrine, that man is saved by 
faith, and not by works, and the Calvinist doctrine of par- 
ticular redemption, &c, have done more in demoralizing 
society throughout what is called Christendom, than any 
other, perhaps than every other, doctrine which has ever 
attained any countenance among civilized nations. John 
P. Durbin, a Methodist preacher, in his fifth letter, pub- 
lished some years ago in the Gospel Trumpet, said : — 

"The world has been strangely inclined to charge the 
Methodist church with the doctrine of seeking righteous- 
ness by works. But, sir, no church is clearer of this doc- 
trine than she is. I think I have given pretty correctly the 
views of this church in the above discussion. She believes 
all holiness, or righteousness, results from faith in the atone- 
ment of Christ, and according to the proportion of faith 
(and not works) so is the holiness of any one." 

He that is governed by faith is governed by the opinions 
of others, without submitting those opinions to the scrutiny 
of reason or common sense ; he that builds what he calls 
belief on such evidence, can believe the most inconsistent 
declarations, as readily as he can well-authenticated facts ; 
and, generally, will consider himself insulted if you doubt 
the correctness of any of his received opinions, and will 
defend them with more warmth and violence than he will 
truths which he has received from well-examined reasona- 
ble evidence, and candid and fair deduction. The Chris- 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 175 

tian, the Mahometan, and the Mormon faith are all founded 
and built upon the Jew books now collected into one vol- 
ume, called the Bible, or Old Testament. Each of these 
systems had a different architect, or builder ; yet the foun- 
dation and principal framing of each of them is constructed 
of materials extracted from those books. The first five 
of those books, said to have been written by a Hebrew 
called Moses, who, his Christian, Mahometan, and Mormon 
followers say, was divinely inspired, may be said to contain 
the substance of all the other books published in that vol- 
ume; they having been written, apparently, either to ac- 
knowledge the truth of Moses's statements, or to spread 
opinions and principles which the writer had imbibed from 
those statements. -^ ; f ! 

Faith has induced thousands to receive and subscribe to 
Calvinism, which reason and common sense never could 
have done- The principal doctrine of Calvinism is con- 
tained in what are called the jive points ; which are pre- 
destination, particular redemption, total depravity, effectual 
callings and the certain perseverance of the saints. Un- 
der the first head, they maintain that God has chosen a 
certain number of the fallen race of Adam, in Christ, be- 
fore the foundation of the world, unto eternal glory, accord- 
ing to his immutable purpose, and of his free grace and 
love, without the least foresight of faith, good works, or any 
conditions performed by the creature ; and that the rest of 
mankind he was pleased to pass by and ordain to dishonor 
and wrath, for their sins, to the praise of his vindictive 
justice.* Second, they maintain that though the death of 
Christ be a most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sins, 
of infinite value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of 

* That is certainly a singular kind of justice. 



17C TRUE HISTORY OP 

the whole world, and though on this ground the gospel i3 
to be preached to all mankind indiscriminately, yet it was 
the will of God that Christ, by the blood of the cross, 
should efficiently redeem all those, and those only, who were 
from eternity elected to salvation, and given to him by the 
Father. Third, they maintain that mankind are totally 
depraved, in consequence of the fall of the first man, who 
being their public head, his sin involved the corruption of 
all his posterity, and which corruption extended over the 
whole soul, and rendered it unable to turn to God, or to 
any thing truly good, and exposes it to his righteous dis- 
pleasure berth in this world and that which is to come. 
Fourth, they maintain that all whom God hath predesti- 
nated unto life, he is pleased, in his appointed time, effect- 
ually to call, by his word and spirit, out of the state of sin 
and death in which they are by nature, to grace and salva- 
tion by Jesus Christ. Fifth and last, they maintain that 
those whom God has effectually called and sanctified by his 
spirit shall never finally fall from a state of grace. 

They admit that true believers may fall partially, and 
would fall totally and finally but for the mercy and faithful- 
ness of God, w r ho keepeth the feet of the saints ; also, that 
He who bestoweth the grace of perseverance bestoweth it 
by means of reading and hearing the word, meditation, 
exhortation, threatenings, and promises ; but none of these 
things imply the possibility of a believer's falling from a 
state of justification.* 

I have frequently heard it denied that Calvinists, or any 
others, believed these doctrines. They certainly do believe 
them, or, at least, they do pretend to believe them, as, I 
think, I will clearly show. 

* These five points are in strict accordance with the character of the 
Bible God, whose most prominent traits, as recorded in that volume, are. 
injustice and tyranny. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 177 

Extracts from a letter signed John W. Thomas, written 
to S. J. Lowe, editor and proprietor of The Regular Bap- 
tist, devoted to the Cause of God and Truth. The letter 
is dated Montgomery county, Indiana, November 13, 1847, 
and is published in the above paper, vol. ii.,No. 13, Weston, 
Missouri, March 1, 1848. "Bro. S. J. Lowe: Occa- 
sionally having some minutes of leisure, I will submit to 
your disposal the following, which I consider Bible truths ; 
they being thoughts on the doctrine of election, as therein 
clearly taught. ( Jacob have I loved and Esau have I 
hated/ (Rom. ix. 11-13;) a clear example given to 
show that God as a Sovereign exercises his right in choos- 
ing from among his creatures those who shall inherit eter- 
nal glory without giving account for the divine procedure ; 
and as Arminians of every grade will be condemning the 
Lord if election be true, alleging that God is partial and 
unjust, and that election is based on God's sovereignty, 
and not on some good work of him that is elected. The 
apostle shows that before either of the children were born 
or had done good or evil, their mother was told that the elder 
should serve the younger. (MaL h 2, 3*) ■ I have loved 
you [Israel, the church] saith the Lord ; yet ye say, Where- 
in [or for what] hast thou loved us ? Was not Esau Ja- 
cob's brother ? saith the Lord ; yet I have loved Jacob and 
hated Esau.' This recorded truth goes to show that Jacob 
and Esau were, under all considerations, upon equal foot- 
ing and in the same condition and situation, where one was 
loved and the other hated, or one chosen and the other 
passed by, for neither of them were yet born • and had 
they been, their parentage could have been no reason why 
one was chosen and the other not, because both of the same. 
Nor had the one performed any good action nor the other 
any bad ones; so that Jacob was not loved for his good 



178 TRUE HISTORY OP 

works nor Esau hated for his bad ones, which confirms the 
truth of this doctrine ; that the object of predestination, 
whether to life or passed by, are alike, whether considered 
in a corrupt mass as fallen, or in a pure mass of creature- 
ship antecedent to sin's having entered into the world, yea, 
without any consideration of it, which is clearly proven by 
the above quotations. So there was not any thing in the 
one that was not in the other. Why was this difference 
made ? The whole matter must therefore be resolved into 
the absolute sovereignty of God, it being his sovereign 
will and secret counsel ; the why and wherefore we are 
unable to give, unless, as the Lord Jesus on another occa- 
sion answers, ' For even so, Father, it seemeth good in thy 
sight/ " 

This being a letter from an individual, (if holding any 
particular authority in the church I know not,) it may be 
said to be no authority whereon to charge such opinions 
against the church. I will therefore copy a document pub- 
lished in the same paper, which appears to be of some au- 
thority. In copying said document I shall omit the numer- 
ous quotations made from different books, as my object is 
to show the opinions of the authors of the document, not 
the reasons why they have imbibed such opinions. 

"The churches and brethren composing the Ketocton 
Association, convened at South River Creek, Warren 
county, Virginia, August 12, 13, and 14, 1847 — sendeth 
greeting : — 

" Dearly beloved in the Lord : Another annual meet- 
ing affords an opportunity of addressing to you another cir- 
cular letter ; and as it has been the practice for a long time 
of this Association to treat on some particular subject, we 
would pursue the practice, by calling your attention to the 
soul-cheering and heart-reviving doctrine, particular elec- 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 179 

tion.* And as it is a fundamental truth, and as there is a 
great difference among professors of Christianity as to 
the meaning of the expressions of election according to the 
foreknowledge of God, &c, this Association takes this plan 
of expressing her views on the above expressions. We 
believe that God has a particular people elected to eternal 
life, and redeemed out of every kingdom, and tongue, and 
nation, and people, of Adam's posterity, chosen of God in 
Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. For the 
children being not yet born, neither having done any good 
nor evil, that the purpose of God, according to election, 
might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth. Thus 
it is clear that particular election unto eternal life is fully 
supported in the elect, and none* others. These two points 
of doctrine are inseparable, viz., particular election and 
particular redemption; they cover precisely the same 
ground, as appears by the foregoing quotations. And 
they are discriminating truths which none but those who 
are born of God can believe, and receive in the love of 
them. Dear brethren, by your indulgence we will pursue 



* " The soul-cheering and heart-reviving doctrine, particular elec- 
tion." Soul-cheering ! Heart-reviving ! To whom ? To the good ? 
No. It may be, perhaps, to the scoundrel, and to the desperado. If 
elected, nothing that they can say or do can debar their claim to inherit 
eternal glory. They have the decree of their God in their favor, which 
they consider cannot be set aside. It cannot be soul-cheering or heart- 
reviving to the good man, even if he considers himself one of the favored 
number, when he reflects that, by the election of one part to everlasting 
glory, the other part was reprobated to eternal punishment. Not that 
the elected part had done any good, or the rejected part any evil ; but, 
so the advocates of the system declare, was done because their God is 
Sovereign ; therefore has the power as well as the will to do so. Is it 
possible to invent a system of belief more directly calculated to expel 
from society justice, benevolence, and humanity, and to obliterate every 
vestige of correct morals ? 



180 TRUE HISTORY OF 

this pleasing subject still further. The doctrine of particu- 
lar election is in perfect accordance with the self-existent 
and unchangeable character of God. For if God can 
change, or can obtain any knowledge of any thing that is 
not perfectly known to him from the beginning, or if he 
can be influenced by any thing out of himself, then par- 
ticular election would not be true. But if God is what 
he has declared himself to be, as he has made known by 
the Scriptures, then particular election must be true accord- 
ing to the self-existence and unchangeable character he 
has given of himself. 

" Particular election is the act of God's sovereign will, 
and is perfectly consistent with his sovereignty. Where is 
the power that dares to call God to answer for his proce- 
dure, or dares ask him why he does thus or thus ? He has 
an indisputable and unquestionable right, and doth work all 
things after the counsel of his own will. In particular 
election are developed the justice and goodness of God, 
The whole family of Adam having in him transgressed the 
law of God, in him, their head, they all became sinners, and 
subject to the penalty of the law, which is death. The 
posterity of Adam, by his transgression, having sinned 
against God, must have sunk with the load of their sin ; for 
the justice of God demanded that the sinner should die to 
answer the penalty of the law. But God, as a manifesta- 
tion of his goodness and grace, elected a people unto eter- 
nal life, by Jesus Christ, who were chosen in Christ before 
the foundation of the world ; and all the iniquities of the 
elect, or chosen of God, were laid upon Christ, their head, 
and he bore their sins and their iniquities in his own body 
on the tree. Forasmuch, then, as Christ undertook for all 
the Father gave, he must answer in their stead the requisi- 
tion of law. He was not spared of God, for the cup of 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA, 18 

God's justice could not pass from him ; he must drink the 
bitter draught of the most painful death. He suffered the 
justice of God in the place of his chosen. If Christ suf- 
fered for them, justice requires their justification. And 
also, dear brethren, you all know by happy experience 
what a great comfort the truth of election was to you when 
you saw the justice of God in your condemnation; and 
when you were enlightened to see that you could be saved 
for what Jesus Christ had done for you, and nothing you had 
done for yourselves, then you saw how he could be just, 
and save you for Jesus' sake, having been chosen in Christ 
before the foundation of the world. And then also you re- 
joice in the great and glorious plan of salvation by grace. 
You have known many turn away from the simplicity of 
the gospel and follow fables, and many forsake the old 
paths and follow new inventions, greatly to the grief of the 
church, as if it would come to dissolution. O, then, how 
sweet to you was the truth of election in the words of the 
apostle ! And what comfort and support you have experi- 
enced when pressed down with losses, crosses, and affliction, 
almost ready to conclude they were sent upon you as 
judgments ! 

" In conclusion, dear brethren, the doctrine of election is 
a scriptural truth, through which the excellences of the di- 
vine attributes shine forth, and it is most certainly a de- 
lightful truth to the children of God. We refer you to 
your messengers and the minutes for information relative 
to the Association business. Now unto the King eternal, 
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory, 
forever and ever, amen. 

THOMAS BUCK, Moderator. 

Philip A. Klipstein, Clerk" 
16 



182 TRUE HISTORY OP 

Let us examine some of the principles shown forth in 
these two letters, supporting the Calvinistic Five Points. 
" We believe that God has a particular people elected to 
eternal life, and redeemed out of every kingdom, and tongue, 
and nation, and people, of Adam's posterity, chosen in 
Christ before the foundation of the world. These two 
points of doctrine are inseparable, viz., particular election 
and particular redemption." Here it is positively declared 
that they believe that God, before he made a single human 
being, elected a certain part out of all that ever was to come 
into existence, which he would render supremely and 
eternally happy, and all the rest eternally miserable. Not 
that the one part had done, or would do, any good, or the 
oiher part any evil, but because it was his sovereign will 
so to do ; and they declare, therefore, the act to be right 
and just. The idea that a powerful being, or, as they ex- 
press it, a sovereign, has a right to do that which is in itself 
wrong, I most solemnly protest against. If the two parties 
— the elected and the rejected, were equally good, or 
equally bad, (and these believers declare that they were 
equals,) the act which elected, or selected, the one to happi- 
ness, and rejected or condemned the other to misery, was 
an act of injustice and tyranny, however powerful, and by 
whatever name called, the being might have been that 
committed it. If the being that did that act was infinitely 
wise, (infinitely good he certainly was not,) the whole mat- 
ter was present to him ; and when he elected one part, he 
condemned by that election the other part ; and these wise 
believers declare that God will not change, and that he 
cannot be influenced by any thing out of himself. Then 
why are they continually addressing to him petitions and 
prayers ? O, these petitions and prayers give employment 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 183 

to the clergy, and that employment produces to them an 
easy and good living. True, it generally comes off the 
hard earnings of the laboring classes of society. 

But these letters are perfectly consistent when we recol- 
lect that they were written by, and addressed to, persons 
who worshipped Moses's God. Do seriously examine the 
doctrines contained in the foregoing letters, and the doc- 
trine that all will be rewarded or punished according to 
their belief, whether works be good or bad, which is the 
fundamental doctrine of Christianity, Mahometanism, and 
Mormonism; and then candidly reflect on such examina- 
tion, and determine in your own mind whether you think it 
possible that any community that worships such a God, and 
that receives and inculcates such doctrines, ever can, while 
they do so, become a moral community. And what a dele- 
terious effect must the reading of this miscalled holy book 
(the Bible) have upon honest minds, that have been taught 
from their infancy to believe, or at least to say they believe, 
it to be the word of God, and therefore cannot contain any 
thing but undeniable truths ; when the reader finds in many 
parts of this book acts of the basest injustice and crime, 
and there declared to have been by the express command 
of God; while they have been instructed that this God 
(Moses's God,) is a being of infinite power, wisdom, and 
goodness ! Certainly such minds will be embarrassed and 
bewildered by endeavoring to reconcile such miserable 
inconsistencies. 



184 TRUE HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER XXI. 
BELIEF. — GOD. 

It is generally said, and I believe pretty generally thought, 
that every person must either believe or disbelieve every 
proposition submitted to him. With respect to those who 
base their belief on faith, that is, on testimony, that assertion 
may be true ; but concerning such as found their belief on 
evidence drawn from facts scrutinized by reason and com- 
mon sense, that assertion is not true. He that bases his 
belief on faith or testimony looks to the character of the 
testifier. If the testifier be, in his estimation, a person of 
piety, learning, high station, or any other real or supposed 
quality that entitles to belief, he believes the testimony ; but 
if he forms a different estimate of the testifier, then he dis- 
believes the testimony ; and this is the process of examina- 
tion which every proposition presented to his mind goes 
through ; therefore in all cases he believes or disbelieves. 
He that founds his belief upon evidence drawn from facts 
submitted to the scrutiny of reason and common sense, will 
sometimes find that all the facts which he can collect and 
so submit do not, to his mind, present evidence sufficient to 
enable him to believe or disbelieve, as to the truth or false- 
hood of the proposition which he has under consideration. 

If a person says that he does not believe the existence of a 
God, the general declaration is, that that person is an athe- 
ist ; yet such declaration may be entirely false. He may 
have examined that subject to the best of his ability, by col- 
lecting all the supposed evidence (not testimony, for I 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 185 



c 



have shown, I think, that testimony not supported by rea- 
son and common sense is not evidence) for and against 
the truth of that proposition ; yet he finds that he has not 
on either side sufficient evidence whereon he can build a 
reasonable belief. He therefore does not believe, neither 
does he disbelieve or deny, the existence of a God. Of 
course he is not an atheist. 

Some twenty-five years ago there were four or five, per- 
haps more, men conversing on theological opinions ; one of 
them, a man of warm passions, and very quick and rather 
harsh expressions, who was directing his conversation more 
to me than to any other of the company, said that he could 
prove that there was no God. I observed to him that I 
would be glad to see his proof; that I had thought consid- 
ably on that subject, and had examined many things which 
I had heard advanced as proof for or against, as far as my 
situation in life would conveniently permit me ; but that I 
was far from being prepared to give a decided opinion on 
that subject. After a little more conversation he appeared 
to wander from the subject. I called his attention to his 
proof; he said that he did not say that he could prove 
there was no God. The company declared to him that he 
certainly said so; he then made some apology; the pre- 
cise terms I do not recollect, but the substance was, that 
he must have expressed himself in much stronger terms 
than he intended ; that what he intended to have said was, 
that there was much stronger proof against the existence 
of a God than there was in favor of it. The subject was 
then dropped, for to go into an examination of evidence for 
and against it would require more time and labor than any 
of us thought we could so appropriate. 

But the difficulty of collecting evidence for and against 
the existence of Moses's God is not so great. On the one 
16* 



186 TRUE HISTORY OF 

6ide we have the testimony of Moses, and other such char- 
acters, that he does or did exist. On the other side we 
have the history of that God, written by Moses and others, 
which exhibits a character so utterly at variance with every 
principle which a rational being can attribute to a divine 
being, that such as found their belief on evidence drawn 
from facts submitted to the test of reason and common 
sense cannot believe that any such God ever existed ; but 
that a visionary being, answering to the character of that 
supposed God, has been, by the tyranny of Moses and oth- 
ers, and by the hypocrisy of their clergy, for thousands of 
years, imposed on the credulous and superstitious as a real 
God ; which imposition has, and now does, enable tyrants 
and clergy to live in luxury and crime on the hard earnings 
of labor, while in many instances the laborer and his family 
are starving. I have in the preceding pages given some 
of the acts of that visionary God, and will give more when 
I treat of morals. 

The historians of Moses's God, and of his doings, state 
many things which he did as having been done to show 
his power ; and the most of those doings were as unjust, 
cruel, and wicked acts as any being could be guilty of. 
Why should a God wish to show his power ? A real God, 
that is, a being of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness, if 
there be such a being, can have no need, and therefore no 
wish, to show his power, wisdom, or goodness. Such a be- 
ing will of course do a great deal of good, not to show his 
goodness, but being good, wise, and powerful, his acts will 
all be good. Not so with Moses's God ; for it was on his 
supposed power that Moses's real power was built. It was 
therefore the interest of Moses and his minions to instil into 
the minds of the many, that his God was a being of great 
power, and very jealous of his sovereignty and glory, and 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 187 

prompt in revenging any neglect in readily executing his 
commands ; for as long as he could keep that idea upper- 
most in the minds of the masses, these commands being all 
issued through him or his clergy, he could sustain his own 
power, and that of all others which he desired. 

That same idea respecting that same God, that is, his 
great jealousy of the infraction of his sovereignty and glory, 
is, in every country called civilized, and at this boasted age 
of superior knowledge, by craft, hypocrisy, and superstition, 
infused into the minds of all persons, from their cradle 
to their grave. The idea that a being infinitely wise, pow- 
erful, and good, and of cojurse infinitely happy, can be jeal- 
ous, appears to me to be as inconsistent and ridiculous an idea 
as could emanate from the brain of a rational being. Who 
or what is such infinite being to be jealous of? Is there 
any person or thing that can mar the power or happiness 
of such a being in any respect ? That being into whose 
mind jealousy has entered, can hardly be considered a tol- 
erably happy being, much less infinitely happy. The idea 
that such infinite being requires service of any other being, 
is an idea of the same category as that of jealousy in such 
a being. How can we serve such a being ? What service 
does he need ? We being finite, and the being which we are 
considering infinite, forbid the idea of our being able to serve 
him ; his infinite wisdom and power exclude all idea of his 
needing any service ; and his infinite goodness is assurance 
which we cannot doubt, that he will not require of us that 
which he does not need. Yet we can in many ways serve 
our fellow-man ; but from erroneous teachings, and long 
subservient habit, a great majority of men and women have ' 
become like children. That which is not necessary to be 
done, and that which they cannot do, they are, generally, 
very willing to try to do ; while that which is necessary to 



188 TRUE HISTORY OP 

be done, and which they can do, is but seldom attended to, 
and then but partially done. The greatest possible service 
that any individual can render to a community is, to use 
his talents and time, as far as is consistent with the neces- 
sary support of himself and family, in exertions to have, and 
to keep, society so organized as that every individual shall, 
as far as possible, receive strict justice ; and that each mem- 
ber of the community shall enjoy the largest liberty con- 
sistent with good order and sound morality. 

Deists have created a God ; for if there be a God, I am 
convinced that they do not know it ; but they have not 
divided him into three, or two, parts, persons, or things. 
They consider him omnipresent, infinite in wisdom, power, 
and goodness ; and that infinite wisdom must know the best, 
and that infinite power and goodness will do the best. 
Deists do not perform any outward worship ; they therefore 
do not build costly temples, and hire priests or preach- 
ers to say long prayers, and perform many other monkish 
ceremonies in such temples, to keep their God in a good 
humor, as do the Jews, the Christians, the Mahometans, 
the Mormons, &c. The belief in the existence of such a 
God as the Deists have created would not inflict any evils 
on society, except that it might induce some to depend on 
his assistance, when they ought to rely on their own exer- 
tions. Some fifty years ago, or more, I candidly thought 
myself a Deist ; acknowledged myself to be such, was so 
called, and, I believe, so considered by all who were inti- 
mately acquainted with me. But subsequent investigation 
and reasoning have, many years since, convinced me that 
what I then thought to be belief was but little more than an 
acquiescence in the opinions and assertions of others, without 
having properly exercised my own examining and reason- 
ing powers. We hear it said every day, by wise persons, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 189 

and by ignorant persons, that every thing must have had a 
cause, that nothing can exist without a cause. Let us in- 
vestigate these bold assertions. 

The Great First Cause, which these persons declare to 
be the cause of every thing else, they acknowledge exists 
without a cause. Then there is something that does exist 
without a cause. But it is a something that they, myself, 
nor you know any thing about. 






CHAPTER XXII. 

TIME, SPACE, AND MATTER. — WORLD MAKING. 

Of the three most important things that do exist, we 
do know something; yet it must be acknowledged that 
we know but very little of these three, notwithstanding 
we live in the midst of them. Time, space, and matter 
surround us on every side. The coeternal existence of 
time and space, I think, will not be denied by any person ; 
for it appears to me that it would be perfectly ridicu- 
lous to say that there was a time when there was no time, 
and equally as ridiculous to say that there was a time 
when there was no space. Then there are two things 
of which we have some knowledge, that have eternally 
existed ; that which has eternally existed could not have 
had a cause of its existence, for the cause must be older 
than the effect. We can only reason concerning what we 
do not know of a thing from what we do know of 
it. We do know that matter occupies every part of 
space to which we have, by any means whatever, any ac- 



190 TRUE msfcOfc* OB* 

cess, and we know not of any means by which we can pre- 
vent its occupancy ; and notwithstanding that time is con- 
tinually making innumerable changes in matter, we have 
no reason to believe that it ever does or can destroy a 
single particle of it. As matter, so far as we can examine, 
coextensively exists with time and space, and as we have 
no reasonable evidence that either time or space, or the two 
conjointly, created matter, then, reasoning from what we do 
know to what we do not know of it, we are compelled to 
admit that the reasonable conclusion is, that matter coex- 
tensively and coeternally existed with time and space, and 
that nothing can be added to it, nor any thing taken from 
it ; that, therefore, it eternally has possessed the same prop- 
erties and power which it now possesses. 

There has been, I suppose, first and last, some thousands 
of persons who have employed themselves in world making, 
and accounting for things being as we find them. If it 
were necessary for me to form a system on that subject, it 
would be about this : That time, space, and matter have 
coextensively and eternally existed. Time, I would de- 
nominate nature, or the operator ; space, the field for opera- 
tion ; and the different kinds of matter, the materials to be 
operated on. This operator having been eternally at work, 
its productions, as a whole, had no beginning, nor, as a 
whole, will they ever have an end ; yet each particular opera- 
tion may have its limits of both extent and duration, as each 
portion of time and of space has its beginning and its end, 
yet neither time nor space, taken as a whole, have either 
beginning or end ; and to the eternal operations of time on 
matter, the innumerable changes it is continually producing, 
and has been producing through all eternity, I would at- 
tribute the appearances and effects which surround us. 
Time, space, and matter, I have said, are the principal 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 191 

things of which we have any knowledge. I would say, 
that they are the only things of which we have any real 
knowledge, or of which we have any reliable evidence. It 
is contrary to sound reason and consistent philosophy to 
introduce a supposed something, of the existence of which 
we have no reliable evidence, to account for appearances 
and effects which the existences of which we have positive 
knowledge, may have, by their eternal and varied actions, 
produced. 

Time has portions, but not proportions. Portion is part 
of a thing without reference to the whole ; proportion is 
a part, or ratio, that will measure the whole. A second, 
or less, a minute, an hour, a day, a year is each a portion 
of time ; yet no number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, 
or years can bear any proportion to the whole of time ; for 
that which never had a beginning cannot be measured. 
The reasoning which is applicable to time is equally cogent 
when applied to space. An inch, or less, a foot, a yard, a 
rod, a mile, each is a portion of space ; but no number of 
inches, feet, yards, rods, or miles can be accounted a pro- 
portion of space ; because, like time, it cannot be measured ; 
for the plain, simple reason, there is no place to begin, nor 
is there any place to end. There are several kinds, or 
different qualities of matter — solid, fluid, atmospheric air, 
gases, or aeriform fluids, &c. ; that is, they appear to our 
senses to be different ; but we are liable to be much deceived 
respecting the composition and the properties of things 
which we suppose ourselves well acquainted with. For 
instance, sugar and starch; these we can examine with 
four of our senses at least ; we can see them, we can feel 
them, we can taste them, we can smell them, and to not one 
of these senses do they appear to be in the least akin to 
each other. Yet their composition is almost identical ; the 



192 TRUE HISTORY OF 

same may be said of diamond and charcoal, and other sub- 
stances. Oxygen gas and hydrogen gas, mixed together in 
a certain proportion, produce water. Oxygen gas is the 
supporter of ordinary combustion ; is a permanently elastic 
fluid, invisible, inodorous, and a little heavier than atmos- 
pheric air. Hydrogen gas is an aeriform fluid, the lightest 
body known, and though extremely inflammable itself, it 
extinguishes burning bodies, and is fatal to animal life : 
there are two substances, neither of which appear to have 
the least affinity to water, but when mixed in a certain 
proportion (and only that proportion will produce it) the 
compound is water. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

NATURAL HISTORY OF CREATION. — ORGANIC 
CREATURES AND DEVELOPMENT. 

The author of " Vestiges of the Natural History of Cre- 
ation " says, — 

" The gas oxygen is considered as by far the most abun- 
dant substance in our globe. It constitutes a fifth part of 
our atmosphere, a third part of water, and a large propor- 
tion of every kind of rock in the crust of the earth. Hy- 
drogen, which forms two thirds of water, and enters into 
some mineral substances, is perhaps the next. Nitrogen, 
of which the atmosphere is four fifths composed, must be 
considered as an abundant substance. The metal silicium, 
which unites with oxygen in nearly equal parts to form 
silica, the basis of nearly half the rocks in the earth's crust, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 193 

is, of course, an important ingredient. Aluminum, the 
metallic basis of alumine, a large material in many rocks, is 
another abundant elementary substance. So also is car- 
bon, a small ingredient in the atmosphere, but the chief con- 
stituent of animal and vegetable substances, and of fossils 
which ever were in the latter condition, among which coal 
takes a conspicuous place. The familiarly-known metals, 
as iron, tin, lead, silver, gold, are elements of comparatively 
small magnitude in the exterior part of the earth's body 
which we are able to investigate. It is remarkable of the 
simple substances that they are generally in some com- 
pound form. Thus oxygen and nitrogen, though in union 
they form the aerial envelope of the globe, are never found 
separate in nature. Carbon is pure only in the diamond. 
And the metallic bases of the earths, though the chemist 
can disengage them, may well be supposed unlikely to re- 
main long uncombined, seeing that contact with moisture 
makes them burn. Combination and recombination are 
principles largely pervading nature. 

" There are few rocks, for example, that are not composed 
of at least two varieties of matter, each of which is again a 
compound of elementary substances. What is still more 
wonderful with respect to this principle of combination, all 
the elementary substances observe certain mathematical 
proportions in their union. One volume of them unites with 
one, two, three, or more volumes of another, any extra quan- 
tity being sure to be left over, if any such there should be. 
It is hence supposed that matter is composed of infinitely 
minute particles or atoms, each of which belonging to any 
one substance, can only (through the operation of some as 
yet hidden law) associate with a certain number of 
atoms of any other. There are also strange predilections 
amongst substances for each other's company. One will 
17 



194 TRUE HISTORY OF 

remain combined in solution with another, till a third is 
added, when it will abandon the former and attach itself to 
the latter. A fourth being added, the third will perhaps 
leave the first and join the new comer. Such is an outline 
of the information which chemistry gives us regarding the 
constituent materials of our globe. How infinitely is the 
knowledge increased in interest when we consider the prob- 
ability of such being the materials of the whole of the 
bodies of space, and the laws under which these every 
where combine, subject only to local and accidental vari- 
ations. 

" Fifty years ago science possessed no facts regarding 
the origin of organic creatures upon earth ; as far as 
knowledge acquired through the ordinary means was con- 
cerned, all was a blank antecedent to the first chapters of 
what we usually call ancient history. Within that time, by 
researches in the crust of the earth, we have obtained a 
bold outline of the history of the globe during what appears 
to have been a vast chronology intervening between its for- 
mation and the appearance of the human race upon its sur- 
face. It is shown, on powerful evidence, that during this 
time strata of various thickness were deposited in seas, each 
in succession being composed of matters worn away from 
the previous rocks ; volcanic agency broke up the strata, 
and projected chains of mountains ; sea and land repeatedly 
changed conditions ; in short, the whole of the arrange- 
ments which we see prevailing in the earth's crust took 
place, and that, most undoubtedly, under the influence of 
natural laws which we yet see operating. The remains and 
traces of plants and animals found in the succession of 
strata show that while these operations were going on the 
earth gradually became the theatre of organic beings ; sim- 
ple forms appearing first, and more complicated afterwards. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 195 

A time when there was no life is first seen ; we then see 
life begin and go on ; but whole ages elapsed before man 
came to crown the work of nature. This is a wonderful 
revelation to have come upon the men of our time, and one 
which the philosophers of the days of Newton could never 
have expected to be vouchsafed. The great fact established 
by it is, that the organic creation, as we now see it, was not 
placed upon the earth at once — it observed a progress. 
Now we can imagine the Deity calling a young plant or 
animal into existence instantaneously ; but we see that he 
does not usually do so. The young plant, and also the 
young animal, go through a series of conditions, advancing 
them from a mere germ to the fully developed repetition of 
the respective parental forms. So, also, we can imagine 
divine power evoking a whole creation into being by one 
work ; but we find that such had been his mode of working 
in that instance ; for geology fully proves that organic cre- 
ation passed through a series of stages before the highest 
vegetable and animal forms appeared. Here we have the 
first hint of organic creation having arisen in the manner 
of natural order. The analogy does not prove identity of 
causes, but it surely points very broadly to natural order 
or law having been the mode of procedure in both in- 
stances. 

" We have yet to advert to the most interesting class of 
facts connected with the laws of organic development. It 
is only in recent times that physiologists have observed that 
each animal passes, in the course of its germinal history, 
through a series of changes resembling the permanent forms 
of the various orders of animals inferior to it in the scale. 
Thus, for instance, an insect standing at the head of the 
articulated animals is in the larva state, a true annelid, or 
worm, the annelida being the lowest in the same class. The 



196 TRUE HISTORY OF 

embryo of a crab resembles the perfect animal of the inferior 
order myriapoda, and passes through all the forms of tran- 
sition which characterize the intermediate tribes of Crus- 
tacea. The frog, for some time after its birth, is a fish with 
external gills, and other organs fitting it for aquatic life, all 
of which is changed as it advances to maturity, and becomes 
a land animal. The mammifer only passes through still 
more stages, according to its higher place in the scale. Nor 
is man himself exempt from this law. His first form is 
that which is permanent in the animalcule. His organiza- 
tion gradually passes through conditions generally resem- 
bling a fish, a reptile, a bird, and the lower mammalia, be- 
fore it attains its specific maturity. At one of the last 
stages of his foetal career he exhibits an intermaxillary 
bone, which is characteristic of the perfect ape ; this is sup- 
pressed ; and he may then be said to take leave of the 
simial type, and become a true human creature. 

" Even, as we shall see, the varieties of his race are rep- 
resented in the progressive development in an individual 
of the highest, before we see the adult Caucasian, the 
highest in the animal scale. To come to particular points 
of the organization. The brain of man, which exceeds that 
of all other animals in complexity of organization and ful- 
ness of development, is, at one early period, only a simple 
fold of nervous matter, with difficulty distinguishable into 
three parts, while a little tail-like prolongation towards the 
hinder parts, and which had been the first to appear, is the 
only representation of a spinal marrow. Now, in this state 
it perfectly resembles the brain of an adult fish, thus as- 
suming, in transitu, the form that in the fish is permanent. 
In a short time, however, the structure is become more 
complex, the parts are more distinct, the spinal marrow bet- 
ter marked : it is now the brain of a reptile. The change 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 197 

continues ; by a singular motion certain parts {corpora 
quadragemind) which had hitherto appeared on the upper 
surface now pass towards the lower ; the former is their 
permanent situation in fishes and reptiles, the latter in birds 
and mammalia. This is another advance in the scale ; but 
more remains yet to be done. The complication of the or- 
gan increases ; cavities termed ventricles are formed, which 
do not exist in fish, reptiles, or birds ; curiously organized 
parts, such as the corpora striata, are added : it is the brain 
of mammalia. Its last and final change alone seems want- 
ing — that which shall render it the brain of a man.* And 
this change in time takes place. So also with the heart. 
This organ in the mammalia consists of four cavities, but in 
the reptiles of only three, and in fishes only two, while in 
articulated animals it is merely a prolonged tube. Now, 
in the mammal foetus, at certain early stage, the organ has 
the form of a prolonged tube ; and a human being may 
then be said to have the heart of an insect. Subsequently 
it is shortened and widened, and becomes divided by a con- 
traction into two parts, a ventricle and an auricle : it is now 
the heart of a fish. A subdivision of the auricle afterwards 
makes it a triple-chambered form, as in the heart of the 
reptile tribes ; lastly, the ventricle being also divided, it be- 
comes a full mammal heart. 

" Time is the true key of difficulties regarding appear- 
ances of determinateness in species. Few of us, not even 
geologists, have ever realized in our minds the extent of 
time which has elapsed since the beginning of life upon 
this globe. Mr. Lyell, without intending to favor the de- 
velopment theory, lends us powerful testimony on this 

* Lord's Popular Physiology. It is to Tiedemann that we chiefly 
owe these curious observations ; but ground was first broken in this 
branch of physiological science by Dr. John Hunter. 

17* 



198 TRUE HISTORY OF 

point. After showing reason to believe that about thirty- 
five thousand years have passed since the Niagara began 
to cut down the rock through which it flows, during which 
time the living raollusks,* whether marine or terrestrial, are 
proved to have undergone no change, he thus proceeds : 
' If such events can take place, while the zoology of the 
earth remains almost stationary and unaltered, what ages 
may not be comprehended in those successive tertiary f 
periods, during which the flora J and fauna § of the globe 
have been almost entirely changed ? Yet how subordinate 
a place in the long calendar of geological chronology do the 
successive tertiary periods themselves occupy? How much 
more enormous a duration must we assign to many antece- 
dent revolutions of the earth and its inhabitants ? No anal- 
ogy can be found in the natural world to the immense scale 
of these divisions of past time, unless we contemplate the 
celestial spaces which have been measured by the astrono- 
mer. Some of the nearest of these within the limits of the 
solar system, as, for example, the orbits of the planets, are 
reckoned by hundreds of millions of miles, which the imagi- 
nation in vain endeavors to grasp. Yet one of these spaces, 
such as the diameter of the earth's orbit, is regarded as 
a mere unit, a mere infinitesimal fraction of the distance 
which separates our sun from the nearest star. By pursu- 
ing still farther the same investigations, we learn that there 
are luminous clouds, scarcely distinguishable by the naked 
eye, but resolvable by the telescope into clusters of stars, 
which are so much more remote that the interval between 
our sun and Sirius may be but a fraction of the larger dis- 
tance. To regions of space of this higher order in point 



* Snails, oysters, &c. f Strata later than the chalk. 

J Plants. § Animals. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 199 

of magnitude we may, probably, compare such an interval 
of time as that which divides the human epoch from the 
origin of the coralline limestone over which the Niagara is 
precipitated at the falls. Many have been the successive 
revolutions in organic life, and many the vicissitudes in the 
physical geography of the globe, and often has sea been 
converted into land, since that rock was formed. The Alps, 
the Pyrenees, the Himalaya, have not only begun to exist 
as lofty mountains, but the solid materials of which they 
are composed have been slowly elaborated beneath the sea 
within the stupendous interval of ages here alluded to. 

" There is still a difficulty of accounting for the origina- 
tion of the first forms of life in the various lines afterwards 
pursued to high development. How was the inorganic 
converted into the first rudiments of the organic ? Whence 
and of what nature was the impulse that first kindled sen- 
sation and intelligence upon this sphere ? A suggestion on 
these subjects is hazarded in my book ; but though we were 
to consider the matter as an entire mystery, it is, after all, 
only so in the same degree and to the same effect as the 
commencement of a new being from a little germ is a mys- 
tery to us, although we know that it is one of the most fa- 
miliar of all natural events. This last marvel we know to 
be under natural law, though we cannot otherwise explain 
it. If we can regard the origin and development of life 
upon our planet as having been equally under natural law, 
the whole point is gained ; for we are not as much inquiring 
in order to say how, as was it within or beyond the natural t 
We have seen, then, as I conceive, that all the associated 
truths of science go to one point. The whole concur to say 
that to believe an exception in this particular of the his- 
tory of nature is an absurdity. Difficulties there may be 
in treating the case positively ; some facts of inferior im- 



200 TRUE HISTORY OF 

portance may seem to point to an opposite conclusion ; but 
in balance of the two sets of evidences, those for the univer- 
sality of natural law down- weigh the other beyond calcula- 
tion." 

Dr. Frederic Hollick, in the Origin of Life, says, — 

" There are few subjects upon which physiologists have 
less agreed, than the nature of the process by which the 
human being is evolved from the generative elements." 

In speaking of the different theories on this subject, he 
says, — 

" Theory of Evolution. — This theory, like that of the 
ovists, supposes the foetus to be solely derived from the 
mother. But it also supposes it existed before sexual inter- 
course ; that is, it supposes the rudiment, in the germ, to 
contain the foetus with all its parts perfect, only on a small 
scale, and that perfect rudiment always existed. The or- 
dinary process of reproduction, therefore, according to this 
view, consists merely of the evolution, further development, 
or growth, of one of these germs into a perfect human 
being." 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 201 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

MORALS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 

The true definition of moral is, I think, as given in the 
first paragraph of the first definition in Webster's Diction- 
ary, which is, " Relating to the practice, manners, or con- 
duct of men, in relation to each other, and with reference 
to right and wrong." That is the only sense in which I 
herein use the words moral, morals, and morality, or in 
which I have ever used them any where. Religious re- 
quirements cannot be considered moral precepts ; for he 
that acts from an expectation or hope of reward, or from 
fear of punishment, is not entitled to the character of a 
moral being, be the acts what they may. No being is wor- 
thy to be characterized a moral being, let his acts be what 
they may, unless he is governed by a conviction that the 
act which he is about to perform is just and right, and there- 
fore ought to be done. Religious communities may require 
the performance of certain things, or ceremonies, and prom- 
ise rewards to such as comply with those requirements ; and 
they may forbid the doing of other things, and threaten 
punishment to be inflicted on the offender ; and civil gov- 
ernments may make laws, good and bad, and annex penal- 
ties thereto to be inflicted upon the violators of them. The 
correct performance of all these requirements will be placed 
on a scale of moral obligations, by a mind regulated by 
justice and correct views, far below true moral acts. Yet, 
under certain circumstances, the correct moralist may feel 
it his duty not to violate even those requirements, or laws, 



202 TRUE HISTORY OP 

which he may deem to be unjust, and therefore immoral ; 
for he himself, and those which it is his immediate duty to 
protect, are a part of society ; therefore, if by violation, or 
omission, he would draw upon himself, or any of those under 
his immediate care, the penalty of law, he would feel it his 
duty to acquiesce for the time being. But he would also 
deem it his duty to exert every legal and moral means in 
his power to have the unjust requirement or law so far 
abrogated as to be inoperative on any as a member of 
general society ; for it is the aim and end of every true 
moralist to augment the happiness of every member of 
society. 

There are very few moral precepts in what is called the 
Old Testament, and fewer correct moral acts done by the 
people whose history it gives, than by any other people of 
whom we have even one tenth as large a history. But 
there are baser immoral acts, and perhaps more of them, 
than can be found in the doings of any other people ; and 
yet we are, by the clergy, continually recommended to and 
threatened with eternal punishment if we do not search 
that book, under the title of the Holy Bible, as a standard 
system of morals. I will give a few of the many nefa- 
rious doings of Moses's God, of Moses, Joshua, and some 
others. 

There is some diversity of opinion concerning what is 
or what is not moral. I consider every act voluntarily 
done, without reward, by a rational being, which increases 
the happiness of any sensitive being, without lessening the 
happiness of any other sensitive being in its progress through 
life, is a moral act ; and that every act of a rational being 
which lessens the happiness of a sensitive being in its prog- 
ress through life, is so far an immoral act ; in short, that 
justice is morality, and injustice is immorality. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 203 

" And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou 
hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above 
every beast of the field : upon thy belly shalt thou go, and 
dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
and her seed : it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel. Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply 
thy sorrow and thy conception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring 
forth children ; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and 
he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because 
thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and eaten 
of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt 
not eat of it, cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life ; thorns and this- 
tles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb 
of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, 
till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou 
taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." 
(Gen. iii. 14-19.) That is certainly heavy cursing. The 
Lord promised Abraham, saying, " And I will bless them 
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee." (Gen. xii. 
3.) That was blessing and cursing at random. 

" And Noah drank of the wine, and was drunken ; and he 
was uncovered within his tent. And Ham, the father of 
Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two 
brethren without. . . . And Noah awoke from his 
wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 
And he said, Cursed be Canaan ; a servant of servants shall 
he be unto his brethren." 

Here is a most cruel and infamous curse by Noah on his 
grandson, for an offence committed by his son. His son, it 
appears to me, acted correctly, when he saw his father's ex- 
posed situation, to his two older brothers, by taking a cover 



204 TRUE HISTORY OF 

and going into the tent backwards and covering him. But 
certainly Canaan had committed no offence. 

When Abram was about to enter into Egypt, notwith- 
standing the great promises made to him by his God, he 
became afraid of the Egyptians ; and thinking that if they 
supposed him to be the brother of Sarai, they would treat him 
well for her sake, for she was "a fair woman to look upon," 
he requested her, saying, " Say, I pray thee, thou art my 
sister." (Gen. xii. 3.) And she did so. Sarai, it is said, 
was barren, but her handmaid had a son by Abraham ; and 
some years afterwards Sarai had a son also; and when 
Sarai's son had grown to be weaned, Abram turned Hagar, 
the handmaid, and her son, out of his house, with nothing 
for their support, except some bread and a bottle of water, 
to ramble and starve in the wilderness, unless they could 
meet with some person of more humanity and correct prin- 
ciples than he possessed, while he was rich and living sump- 
tuously. Abram, whose name is changed to Abraham, and 
his wife Sarai, whose name is changed to Sarah, having 
fared so well in Egypt by lying, they both, when they went 
to Gerar, pursued the same treacherous policy, and succeed- 
ed still better. (Gen. xx. 5.) 

Isaac, and Rebekah his wife, at a time of famine in the 
country where they lived, went to the same place, Gerar, 
where his father and mother fared so well ; and by lying, 
received the foundation of wealth and distinction. (Gen. 
xxvi. 7, 13.) Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. After 
they were grown, their parents being old, Esau, being a 
hunter, had been out, we may reasonably suppose, seeking 
provision for the family. He came in much fatigued and 
hungry, and said, "I am at the point to die." (Gen. xxv. 
32.) His brother had some pottage ready for eating; 
Esau asked him for some, and Jacob refused to let him 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 205 

have any, only on condition that he would transfer his birth- 
right to him. Esau, being " at the point to die," concluded 
that his birthright would be of no use to him, and made the 
transfer as demanded. Jacob, being counselled and assisted 
by his mother, swindled his father, by the grossest lying, 
and hypocritical and deceptive tricks, of the blessing which 
his father intended to confer, and thought he was conferring 
on Esau. (Gen. xxvii. 15.) 

Jacob married two wives, sisters, and also took two con- 
cubines. From Moses's record it appears that Jacob, by 
some legerdemain tricks concerning the increase of the 
flocks of his father-in-law Laban, managed to cheat his 
father-in-law so as to become rich. (Gen. xxx. 43.) Ja- 
cob, discovering by their conversation and countenances that 
his father-in-law and his brothers-in-law were dissatisfied 
with his dishonest conduct, (xxxi. 20,) determined to leave 
them secretly, with his family and property ; and when he 
departed, his favorite wife, Rachel, stole her father's gods, 
and kept them so securely hid, that the old man, when he 
overtook Jacob, could not find his gods. And Laban was 
equally dishonest as Jacob and his wife, for he sold Rachel 
to Jacob, and then imposed her elder sister on him ; and as 
Jacob wanted Rachel also, Laban charged him other seven 
years' labor for her. Jacob was so well convinced of his 
infamously base conduct towards his father and his twin 
brother, that, when he came near to their dwelling, he 
became afraid that Esau would retaliate on him some of 
his infamous conduct, which he had committed on them. 
(Gen. xxxii.) . He therefore sent forward large presents to 
Esau, accompanied by the most humiliating messages, to 
appease his brother's expected wrath, calling his brother 
lord, and himself the servant of his lord, Esau, with much 
18 



206 TRUE HISTORY OF 

other hypocritical trash, clearly showing that there wa9 
neither honesty nor candor in the man. 

Reuben committed fornication by lying with Bilhah, his 
father's concubine, the mother of his brothers Dan and 
Naphtali. (Gen. xxxv. 22.) 

Jacob's sons, having imbibed the idea that their youngest 
brother, Joseph, was the favorite of their father, laid a 
scheme to destroy him ; but accidentally meeting some for- 
eigners who were willing to buy him, they sold him into a 
far country, (Gen. xxxvii. ;) and to hide their treachery, 
persuaded their father that Joseph had been devoured by 
wild beasts. 

"And the thing which he [Onan] did displeased the 
Lord; wherefore he slew him also." (Gen. xxxviii. 10.) 
Now the thing which Onan did, was, he would not get with 
child Tamar, the widow of his brother Er, whom that same 
Lord had previously murdered. But his father, Judah, was 
not conscientious, for he got Tamar with child, (Gen. 
xxxviii. 15,) not knowing that it was his daughter-in-law, 
but supposed her to be a harlot. Some time after, he being 
informed that his daughter-in-law was with child, he ordered 
her to be burned ; and when she was brought out for that 
purpose, she sent for her father-in-law, and produced to him 
such clear proof that it was himself that had got her with 
child, that he rescinded his order. 

Joseph, having been taken when he was young, about 
seventeen years old, into Egypt, where the people were 
highly civilized, and of course in some degree liberal and 
just, became a man of very superior principles, when com- 
pared with his clannish, lewd, and selfish progenitors and 
brethren. He took to himself an Egyptian wife, by whom 
he had two sons, (Gen. xii. 50 ;) and I have not found that 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 207 

he was ever charged with bigamy, adultery, fornication, or 
incest, which were such common practices among the mem- 
bers of the clan from which he sprang. Joseph must have 
lived very happily in Egypt, for he declared that he had 
forgotten all his toils, and all his father's house. 

Moses was raised and educated by and among the 
Egyptians, but early became acquainted with his ori- 
gin. Yet lie does not appear to have imbibed the low 
and lewd vices of the most of his progenitors; but judging 
from a review of his whole life, as given by himself, he 
was ambitious, ferocious, and tyrannical. If there be 
any truth in Moses's history of himself, it appears to me, 
if plainly told, to be about as follows: That after he 
committed the murder for which he had to leave Egypt, 
he went to Midian ; and being a learned and an accom- 
plished young man, was favorably received by Jethro, 
king and priest of Midian, and married one of his daugh- 
ters. Rollin says, that God himself, when praising Mo- 
ses, said that " he was learned in all the wisdom of the 
Egyptians." I have spoken of Moses as being a young 
man when he went to Midian. I am aware that the 
record says, " And Moses was fourscore years old, and 
Aaron fourscore and three years old, when they spake 
unto Pharaoh." (Ex. vii. 7.) But the record also says, 
" And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was 
grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on 
their burdens ; and he espied an Egyptian smiting a 
Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way 
and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, 
he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand." (Ex. ii. 
11, 12.) From the account there given, it is evident that 
when Moses committed that murder he was a young 
man ; for it seems to have been the first time that he had 



208 TRUE HISTORY OF 

been out among his brethren after he was grown ; and the 
murder was known the next day after it was done, and he 
left Egypt. If we admit that he was then about thirty 
years old, he must have lived fifty years in Midian. 

As before stated, Moses's father-in-law, Jethro, was 
priest and king of Midian ; and Moses living so long with 
him, they certainly had ample time to mature a scheme for 
prompting of the Hebrews that were in Egypt to a revolt 
against the authorities of that country ; and there can be 
but little doubt that Jethro was the principal architect in 
the building up of Moses's God ; for it does not appear 
that Moses had any ideas respecting a God until after he 
had taken his abode in Midian, or that the Hebrews in 
Egypt had any, not even Aaron, the elder brother of 
Moses, who had been raised and educated among the 
Hebrews, until Moses took them the news that there was 
one. " And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord 
who had sent him, and all the signs which he had com- 
manded him. And Moses and Aaron went and gathered 
together all the elders of the children of Israel. And 
Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken 
unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. 
And the people believed. And when they heard that the 
Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had 
looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads and 
worshipped." (Ex. iv. 28.) 

Of the ten commandments, as given in the twentieth 
chapter of Exodus, the first four are nothing more than 
theological requirements, and cannot be considered in any 
way to comport with any system of correct morals. Some 
part of them, being extremely unjust, are therefore immoral. 
The fifth, that is, " Honor thy father and thy mother," taken 
generally, is good ; but I apprehend that there have been, 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 209 

and now are, cases in which a virtuous and just person 
would find it almost impossible to comply with the com- 
mand. The reason there given why the command ought 
to be complied with is an appeal to selfish fear, and has no 
morality in it. The last five commandments, as there 
given, are good moral precepts. But was Moses's God, 
Moses himself, those in command under him, or his suc- 
cessors in office, in any wise regulated by the last five com- 
mandments ? I think that a candid examination of the 
acts of those persons most clearly shows that they paid no 
respect to them. 

Moses's laws, or, more correctly speaking, the commands 
of Moses's God, as exhibited by Moses, for the government 
of his people, show a very low state of morals. Some few 
of them may perhaps be termed good ; the greater part are 
very questionable, in either their necessity or their justice ; 
and others of them are bad, because either unjust, or cruel, 
or both. Notwithstanding that Moses had, by his injustice, 
and his worse than savage cruelty, reduced his people to 
apparent subjection, yet he knew that their hatred towards 
him and his God was great, and he feared them ; and as 
they yet had among them some few trinkets of gold and 
silver, it was necessary to rob them of these also, in order 
to reduce them to the greatest possible dependence on and 
subserviency to him and his supporters in tyranny and vil- 
lany. To effect that robbery, there can be but little doubt, 
Moses's pretended journey and long stay in the mountain 
were planned, that the people might be stimulated to revolt, 
and ask for other gods ; which request Aaron, notwithstand- 
ing he was high priest of Moses's God, readily assented to, 
and commanded them to bring unto him their earrings, and 
they did so, and he made them a God in the shape of a 
calf; but it is very questionable as to its being made of 
18* 



210 TRUE HISTORY OF 

gold, for Moses burned it, and strewed it upon the water, and 
made the people drink it. And when Joshua had finished 
their God he built an altar before it, and then made procla- 
mation for a feast unto the Lord. But Moses, before he 
went up into the mountain, had taken care to strengthen his 
supporters, by taking into his employ Bezaleel, son of Uri, 
son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, the largest tribe among 
the Israelites ; and also Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of 
the tribe of Dan, the second largest tribe.* The taking of 
men of note out of these two large tribes into his favor no 
doubt added considerably to Moses's strength. He also as- 
sociated Hur with Aaron in the governing of the people 
while he was gone. (Ex. xxiv. 14.) 

That calf business gave Moses and Aaron a good oppor- 
tunity to ascertain who among their subjects were most in- 
clined to question their authority ; for if Moses was actually 
upon the mountain all the time that he said he was, which 
is very questionable, Aaron was with the people, and knew 
all their movements ; and he having so freely aided them 
in their revolt, it is likely that the principal leaders of the 
movement would express themselves freely in his presence. 
It therefore became easy for him and Moses to frame such 
orders governing the massacre which followed as would 
generally secure the destruction of the most active men 
concerned in the revolt. 

" Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, 
Who is on the Lord's side ? let them come unto me. And 
all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. 
And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out 



* The tribe of Joseph was divided into two tribes : Ephraim, 40,500 ; 
Manasseh, 32,200 : 72,700. 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 211 

from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man 
his brother, and every man his companion, and every man 
his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to 
the word of Moses ; and there fell of the people about 
three thousand men." (Ex. xxii. 26-28.) 

The camp consisted of about six hundred thousand men 
fit for war, exclusive of the Levites, who were a privileged 
order, and, in this case, commanded to murder the offenders, 
and, from the orders given them, to go from gate to gate 
throughout the camp; and from the number slain, three 
thousand out of six hundred thousand, it is reasonable to 
conclude that they had private orders designating persons 
that were to be murdered. The record does not inform us 
how many women and children were murdered on that oc- 
casion ; but as the whole family of the offender was gener- 
ally included in the slaughters inflicted for offences commit- 
ted against Moses or his God, we may reasonably conclude 
it was in that case. If so, allowing the women and chil- 
dren to be only twice the number of the men fit for war, 
there must have been six thousand women and children 
slaughtered,, making the whole number murdered nine 
thousand. And for what was that infamous slaughter of 
men, women, and children perpetrated ? The record shows 
that it was done to enable the Levites — the clergy tribe — 
to render themselves worthy to receive a blessing from 
Moses's unjust, tyrannical, and savage God. The next day 
after that infamous butchering of the people, that hypocrit- 
ical scoundrel Moses said unto the people, " Ye have sinned 
a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord; perad- 
venture I shall make an atonement for you." 

After the great slaughter portrayed in the twentieth 
chapter of Judges, the whole tribe of Benjamin having 
been inhumanly murdered, except six hundred men who 



212 TRUE HISTORY OF 

fled and took refuge in a rock, the people became much 
grieved at what they considered the extinction of one of 
their tribes. They said they had sworn not to give any of 
their daughters as wife to any Benjamite ; so that, notwith- 
standing there were six hundred men of that tribe yet liv- 
ing, there appeared no way of renewing the tribe. But the 
leaders, as the leaders in rascality always are, were fertile 
in expedients, and pretended to have discovered that there 
were none of the camp from Jabesh-gilead to the assembly 
at Mizpeh. Now, the record, I think, shows that charge to 
be an afterthought — a mere pretence ; for at the com- 
mencement of the preparation for the expedition against 
Benjamin they said, — 

" Then all the children of Israel went out, and the con- 
gregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even 
to Beer-sheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the Lord in 
Mizpeh." (Judges xx. 1.) And again, they declared, " So 
all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, knit 
together as one man." (Judges xx. 11.) 

But if we allow that that charge was actually true, what 
was the charge ? It was, that a small proportion of the 
men of Israel did not join the rest and assist them to inhu- 
manly murder more than one hundred and forty thousand 
men, women, and children of their own people ; and upon 
that charge an expedition was sent against Jabesh-gilead 
with orders to slay every man, woman, and child of that 
place, except the marriageable virgins, of which they found 
four hundred, which were brought in and given to the Ben- 
jamites for wives. Yet there were two hundred Benjamites 
without wives. To furnish wives for that two hundred, and 
yet save their own oaths, the leaders had to fall on some ex- 
pedient. There was to be a great feast at Shiloh ; and they 
told the two hundred Benjamites to go and secrete them- 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 213 

■ 

selves round about the place, and when opportunity offered 
for each of them to steal a girl and take her off to his 
home. 

"And it shall be, when their fathers come unto us to 
complain, that we will say unto them, Be favorable unto 
them for our sakes, because we reserved not each man his 
wife in the war ; for ye did not give unto them at this time, 
that ye should be guilty. And the children of Benjamin 
did so, and took them wives according to their number." 
(Judges xxi. 22, 23.) 

Now, let us pause and reflect what must have been the 
state of morals among a people who could act as here 
stated, and what kind of a God was he whom they wor- 
shipped, who, according to their accounts, governed them, 
and not only sanctioned their proceedings, but commanded 
many of the worst acts to be done. They first inhumanly 
murder more than one hundred and forty thousand men, 
women, and children of their own people, to gratify the re- 
vengeful disposition of one very bad man, and to avenge the 
death of equally as bad a woman. And when they in some 
measure saw the enormity of their conduct, and desired to 
compensate in a small degree the party injured, there was 
an oath in the way. They had sworn that they would not 
any of them give his daughter to a Benjamite for wife ; so 
they murdered, at the lowest calculation, over twenty thou- 
sand more men, women, and children of their own people, 
and forced four hundred virgins into the arms of men that 
they may have despised ; and then by another stratagem, 
not quite so inhuman, but equally treacherous, they en- 
abled two hundred other men to steal each a wife ; so there 
were six hundred women forced into the arms of men with- 
out having been the least consulted as to their willingness 
or not. And by that base and treacherous conduct those 



214 TRUE HISTORY OP 

leaders of the people seem to have believed that they saved 
their oaths inviolate. Let us see. You and me each swear 
that we will not give any of our property towards the pro- 
motion of a certain object named ; but after cool reflection 
we desire that that object should be accomplished, but it 
cannot, or will not, without a part of one of our properties 
is appropriated therefor. What is to be done ? Each of 
us has sworn that we will not so give any of our property. 
Why, according to the foregoing example, if either of us can, 
by murder or treachery, or by both murder and treachery, 
get possession of the other's property, he may give that 
property ; because it is not the property of him who gives it, 
and he whose property it is did not give it ; thereby saving 
both our oaths. O, miserable, miserable subterfuge ! 

" And it came to pass as they fled from before Israel, and 
were in the going down to Beth-horon, that the Lord cast 
down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, 
and they died. ,, (Joshua x. 11.) Would an infinitely wise, 
infinitely powerful, and infinitely good God, if there be 
such a being, so employ himself? No. It was Moses's 
God that did that. 

"And it came to pass that night that the angel of the 
Lord went out and smote the camp of the Assyrians, a 
hundred fourscore and five thousand ; and when they arose 
early in the morning, behold they were all dead corpses." 
(2 Kings xix. 35.) That is certainly a very large Irish 
bull. 

"And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, 
with the captains over thousands, and the captains over 
hundreds, which came from the battle. And Moses said 
unto them, — 

" Have you saved all the women alive ? Now therefore 
kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman 



MOSES, AARON, AND JOSHUA. 215 

that hath known a man by lying with him. But all the 
women-children, that have not known a man by lying 
with him, keep alive for yourselves." (Numbers xxxi. 
14-18.) 

The number of young virgins that were kept alive was 
thirty two thousand. And notwithstanding Moses told the 
captains over thousands, and the captains over hundreds, to 
keep them alive for themselves, he had them divided in the 
same proportion as the rest of the plunder. And the 
Lord's tribute was six hundred and threescore and fifteen 
sheep, and threescore and twelve beeves, and threescore 
and one asses, and thirty-two young virgins : the Lord's 
share was given to Aaron, the high priest, for the use of 
himself and clergy. These are some, out of a great many 
of the same kind, of the morals of that " Holy Bible," to 
which we are, by the clergy, continually referred as the 
great work by which our lives should be regulated, and 
which is, by the influence of the clergy, forced into our 
schools, to be read and committed to memory by the chil- 
dren, who are by the obscenity and wickedness contained 
in that book rendered vicious, unjust, and immoral, and we 
need not expect, while society is thus influenced, many to 
be honest, much less moral. 

There have been persons in every age that considered a 
clergy the upas tree of society, poisonous to every virtue ; 
but whoever, some years back, were so incautious as to ex- 
press their opinion, were rewarded with the rack, the gib- 
bet, the stake, or the block. But for some few years past, 
(thanks to the American constitution, the work of infidels, 
for its benevolent influence is felt throughout the world,) 
these inhuman punishments for such an offence have been 
partially dispensed with, and those who have recently been 
candid enough to express their opinion concerning the 



216 TRUE HISTORY OF MOSES, &C. 

injurious effect of clerical influence on society, have been 
paid in misrepresentations and downright lies. But hypoc- 
risy, sooner or later, will dig its own grave, as appears from 
the following extract. The New York Independent (a 
Congregational paper) holds the following strong language 
upon the scepticism of the day : — 

" Among all the earnest-minded young men who are at 
this moment leading in thought and action in America, we 
venture to say, that four fifths are sceptical even of the great 
historical facts of Christianity. What is told of Christian 
doctrine by the churches is not considered by them. And 
furthermore, there is among them a general ill-concealed 
distrust of the clerical body as a class, and an utter disgust 
with the very aspect of modern Christianity and church 
worship. This scepticism is not flippant ; little is said about 
it. It is not a peculiarity alone of the radicals and fanat- 
ics ; many of them are men of calm and even balance of 
mind, and belong to no class of ultraists. It is not worldly 
and selfish. The doubters lead in the most self-denying 
enterprises of the day." — Semi-Weekly Ohio Statesman ., 
Sept. 30, 1853. 



MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 217 



CHAPTER XXV. 

MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST AND THE ANCIENT 
PHILOSOPHERS. 

Jesus Christ, according to his historians, — for he gave 
no record of himself, — - has given but few moral precepts, 
but a great many religious requirements ; generally attach- 
ing to each a great reward or a severe punishment, The 
moral precepts advanced by him cannot be justly claimed as 
originating with him, for they were all given to the world 
hundreds of years before he was born. Some few are good, 
therefore correct ; others are correct under certain circum- 
stances ; some are not correct under any circumstances. I 
believe it is generally acknowledged that the best moral 
precept contained in either the Old or the New Testament, 
and perhaps as correct a one as can be found any where, is 
said to have been delivered to the people by Jesus Christ, 
in his sermon on the mount, as follows : " Therefore all 
things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do 
you even so to them ; for this is the law and the prophets." 
(Matt. vii. 12.) Jesus did not give this precept as any 
thing new, but declared it to be in accordance with the law 
and the prophets. The Israelites had a school called the 
School of the Prophets, in which young men were educated 
and qualified for public teachers ; and it is quite reasonable 
to suppose that some of those teachers had propagated a 
precept so congenial with justice, benevolence, and good 
sense, and there might have been something in the Hebrew 
law looking to the same subject. 
19 



218 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

Isocrates, a Greek orator, who died about three hundred 
and thirty-eight years before Jesus Christ was born, at the 
great age of ninety-eight years, in treating of morals, said, 
" We do not attempt to set forth novel discoveries, for the 
subject can only suggest simple and common truths, drawn 
from the ordinary conduct of life. The merit of a moral 
treatise consists in collecting, as extensively as possible, the 
maxims scattered amongst all nations, and placing them in 
an interesting point of view. Let us not suppose that the 
care and study so serviceable in other respects are of no 
avail in rendering ourselves wiser and better. Man would 
be too miserable, if, after attaining the skill to tame and 
train the most ferocious animals, he could not aspire to im- 
proving himself in knowledge and virtue. Our youths 
should not only be excited to virtue by advice and precepts, 
but we should convince them, by our example, of the neces 
sity for their becoming good citizens. We can neither form 
our judgment correctly, nor deliberate fairly, if we do not 
consult different opinions, and divest ourselves of every 
kind of awe and prejudice in considering them." 

Confucius, a Chinese philosopher, the greatest and best 
of great and good men, who died in the seventy-third year 
of his age, about four hundred and seventy-eight years be- 
fore Jesus Christ was born, said, — 

" We cannot observe the necessary rules of life, if there 
be wanting these three virtues : considerateness, which 
enables us to distinguish good from evil ; universal benevo- 
lence, which inclines us to love all men that are virtuous ; 
and resolution, constantly to persevere in our adherence to 
good and avoidance of evil. Sincerity of heart is the first 
of virtues ; nothing is so indispensable in the commerce of 
society as sincerity. We should behave ourselves at all 
times towards others the same as we would wish their con- 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 219 

duct to be towards ourselves. He who sincerely and truly 
measures others by himself, obeys that law naturally im- 
planted in his bosom, which dictates to him not to do to 
others what he would not they should do to him ; and what- 
soever things he would that men should do to him, to do 
even the same to them. Let us use the same standard in 
judging ourselves as that by which we judge others, and 
estimate their sufferings and enjoyments according to our 
own ; so shall we fulfil the laws of true charity." 

Aristotle, a very celebrated philosopher, born at Stagira, 
a small city in Macedon, died in the sixty-third year of his 
age, about three hundred and twenty-one years before the 
birth of Jesus Christ, among many other excellent remarks 
on morals, said, — 

" Virtue consists not so much in just perceptions as in 
correct habits, which require great length of time and much 
attention to form. Practical virtue is acquired by exercise 
and confirmed by reason. A virtuous life is in itself a 
source of delight. Vice is sufficient of itself to make a 
man thoroughly unhappy. Vice tends to create misery, 
though he who allows himself in its practice be surrounded 
with all worldly advantages. Justice is the virtue of ren- 
dering every man his due. We should conduct ourselves 
towards others as we would expect them to act towards 
ourselves.' ' 

Socrates was born about four hundred and sixty-seven 
years before Jesus Christ, at Attica. This celebrated phi- 
losopher says, — 

• Our duty is, to be most rational and useful, because 
that which wants reason also wants respect : we have no 
concern with any thing that is beyond comprehension. He 
who is attached to justice is estimable ; and he who sepa- 
rates the just from the useful is detestable. Where aris- 



220 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

tocracy prevails, those called the lower classes only breathe 
for the service and profit of those who arrogantly distin- 
guish themselves as the higher classes, or the great. He 
who has practised virtue in such a manner as to have com- 
mitted no crime, has the testimony of a good conscience, 
and consequently enjoys perfect tranquillity. Having 
searched into all kinds of science, we discover the folly of 
neglecting those things which concern human life, and in- 
volving ourselves in difficulties about questions that are but 
mere notions ; we should confine ourselves to nature and 
reason. Fancies beyond the reach of the understanding, 
and which have yet been made objects of belief, — these 
have been the source of all the disputes, errors, and super- 
stitions that have prevailed in the world. Such notional 
mysteries cannot be made subservient to the right uses of 
humanity. Superstition is obedient to pride, its parent. 
The way of gaining admission into the temple of science, 
is through the portal of doubt. We mistake in seeking 
happiness from sensual indulgence, which is too worthless 
and fleeting to procure permanent felicity. Virtue and wis- 
dom is the beauty of the mind, and vice its deformity. In 
childhood, we should be modest ; in youth, temperate ; in 
manhood, just ; and in old age, wise." 

This great and good man was, by the instigation of the 
clergy, put to death. The indictment on which Socrates 
was tried charged him with three distinct offences: not 
believing in the gods which the state believed in ; intro- 
ducing new divinities ; and corrupting the young. When 
he was condemned, his execution was postponed about 
thirty days; during this interval, some of his wealthy 
friends pressed him to take advantage of the means of 
escape which they could easily have procured for him. 
But he refused to prolong a life which was so near its nat- 
# 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 221 

ural close — for he was little less than seventy years old — 
by a breach of the laws, which he had never violated, and 
in defence of which he had before braved death ; and his 
attachment to Athens was so strong, that life had no charms 
for him in a foreign land. When the summons for his 
death came, he drank the fatal cup of hemlock in the midst 
of his weeping friends, with as much composure as the last 
draught of a long and cheerful banquet. At that time, 
Plato was a disciple of Socrates, and there can be no doubt 
but the fate of his master determined him not to incur 
the displeasure of the clergy. It appears that in every 
age the most moral and best men have been the particular 
objects of persecution by the clergy. Socrates and Jesus 
Christ are two prominent cases. 

Marcus Tullius Cicero, one of the greatest men of anti- 
quity, whether we consider him as an orator, a statesman, 
or a philosopher, was born at Arpinum, about one hundred 
and seven years before Jesus Christ. From a great num- 
ber of virtuous moral precepts, correct political positions, 
and truly philosophical maxims advanced by him, I select 
the following : — 

" We should always act in a way so as to be able to ren- 
der satisfactory reasons for our conduct ; this rule defines 
almost the extent of our duties. The obligation which is 
most binding , on society is, the firm conviction that one 
man ought not to injure the person of another man, nor ap- 
propriate to himself another's property ; that a greater out- 
rage upon humanity cannot be committed. No man ought 
to take advantage of another's simplicity to give aught 
thereby to himself. In the sale of an article, every par- 
ticular should be fairly stated, that the purchaser may not 
be ignorant of any of its qualities known to the seller." 

" Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Matt. xxii. 39) 
19* 



222 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

is a command said to be given by Jesus Christ. " Love 
your neighbor as yourself" is a moral precept, said, by the 
Rev. Thomas Robbins, in speaking of the Chinese religion, to 
have been advanced by the Chinese philosopher Confucius. 
It is very certain that Confucius did not receive his precept 
from Jesus, as the former died nearly five hundred years 
before the latter was born ; but Jesus might, and probably 
did, receive his command indirectly from Confucius. Be 
that as it may, the correctness of the principle involved 
therein, whether it be considered as a command or as a 
moral precept, depends on the relative usefulness and in- 
trinsic value of the parties to the community in which they 
live, or, more properly, to mankind. If your neighbor be 
vicious, and of course injurious to society, you ought not, 
you cannot love him, unless you be like unto him. A 
virtuous person will love the virtuous and hate the vicious, 
no matter who commands or recommends otherwise ; for 
we have no more the control of our love or hatred than 
we have of the growth of our bodies. External circum- 
stances govern each, and they are formed in accordance 
with those circumstances. Though we do not love our 
neighbor, — no, if we even hate him, — that will not justify 
us in treating him with any unnecessary severity, or in doing 
him any injustice whatever ; and our duty to society, to that 
neighbor, and to ourself, requires that we should keep a vigil- 
ant care over that neighbor, and if we discover any proba- 
bility that by kind treatment, or any other proper course, he 
may be reformed, it then becomes our duty so to conduct 
towards him as we think will be most likely to make him 
a good member of society, beneficial to himself and family, 
if he has any, and useful to his neighbors. All that is here 
said about neighbors applies with equal force to those who 
are not our neighbors. There is no merit or demerit in 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 223 

being our neighbor ; it therefore cannot give any claim to, 
or be a bar against, any particular privilege. 

" I say unto you, Swear not at all ; but let your commu- 
nications be yea, yea ; nay, nay ; for whatsoever is more 
than these cometh of evil." (Matt. v. 34.) This is a most 
excellent moral precept, or perhaps, in the way it was given, 
may be said to be a command, said to have been given by 
Jesus Christ. Yet, if any attempt is made, in any country 
or state in what is called Christendom, to carry this excellent 
precept into practice, by abolishing by law the use of oaths 
in all cases, Bible moralists, particularly the clergy, almost 
universally oppose it most strenuously. 

A good writer on morals says, — 

" He who, for want of equity and uprightness, does not 
scruple to betray truth, will no less betray it after an oath 
than if he had not sworn at all. There is something not 
only ridiculous, but insulting, in forcing an honorable man 
to stand up before his equals, who know him, or at least 
can ascertain him to be a man of worth and veracity, there 
to uncover his head, hold up his right hand, and utter con- 
ditional imprecations on himself, before credence can possi- 
bly be attached to a sixpenny disclosure, when, on all 
ordinary occasions, his simple word would be taken for 
thousands ; and there is something preposterous in the ex- 
pectation of dragging truth from a notorious liar, through 
the mere dread of retribution in a life beyond the present. 
'Tis priestly trick all." 

I do not recollect that I ever knew a clergyman to be in 
favor of abolishing the laws which make oaths necessary. 
And why are they not ? Because it is evident that oaths 
nourish superstition among the people ; and the more super- 
stition the people have, the greater will be their desire for 
a clergy, and the better will be the clergy's pay. 



224 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

And in all this swearing of witnesses what constitutes 
the competency of a witness ? Is it honesty, a just, virtu- 
ous, and upright conduct, or the acting generally on correct 
moral principles ? No, no, none, nor all of these will quali- 
fy a person to testify in some courts, falsely called courts 
of justice ; but to be so qualified it is only necessary to be- 
lieve, or to pretend to believe, in a certain creed of religion. 
I say pretend to believe, for I think it may be asserted, 
without any fear or hope that the contrary can be shown, 
that it is utterly impossible for any court or individual to 
know, by any process whatever, what any witness or other 
individual believes. 

As an illustration of the mode of ascertaining the com- 
petency of a witness by some of our courts, I will cite the 
proceedings on that subject in a case before the Municipal 
Court, in Boston, in the year 1823. The lawyer for the 
prisoner having been informed that the witness about to be 
sworn did not believe in the existence of a God, objected to 
his being sworn in chief. The witness is sworn to make 
true answers. The judge to witness. " Do you believe 
in the existence of a God ? " Answer. " How can I be- 
lieve, if I do not know ? " Judge. " Do you feel under a 
religious obligation to speak the truth ? * Answer. " I 
feel obliged to speak the truth." Judge. " Do you feel 
under obligation to Almighty God to speak the truth ? " 
Answer. "How can I feel an obligation to one whom I 
do not know to exist ? " The witness was set aside by 
the judge as not competent to be sworn. 

Now, what are the real ideas here held out to the witness 
by the court ? They are as follows : Sir, it is strongly sus- 
pected by some one of this court, that you will not lie ; and 
it becomes my duty, as judge, to endeavor to ascertain the 
truth or falsehood of that suspicion. Here let me premise 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 225 

that if you are so conscientiously obstinate, that you will 
not tell even a pious lie, your testimony cannot be received 
in this court ; but if you will condescend to tell a pious lie, 
and swear to it, then your testimony will be received. To 
such tampering with justice, veracity, and every correct 
moral principle, may justly be attributed the greater part 
of the perjuries, and nearly all the common lying and insin- 
cere conduct, now committed in what is called civilized 
society. The tyranny of rulers and the avarice and de- 
ception of priests made mankind immoral, and keeps 
them so. 

The biographers of Jesus Christ have been so anxious to 
make him appear very powerful, that they have related 
many things of him which would, if we believed them, di- 
vest us of our good opinion of his moral worth and benevo- 
lent intentions. Among a great many marvellous things 
reported of him, it is said, that two persons who were pos- 
sessed of devils met Jesus ; and that some distance off there 
was a herd of many swine feea'ing; 

" So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, 
suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said 
unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went 
into the swine ; and behold, the whole herd of swine ran 
violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in 
the waters." (Matt. viii. 31, 32.) This act, as recorded of 
Jesus, shows that he was mild and friendly to the devils ; 
but to the poor hogs, who were quietly feeding, it was cruel 
in the extreme to send a parcel of devils into them ; and to 
the owners of the hogs, unjust and injurious, therefore im- 
moral. This wicked and foolish story, I suppose, has been 
the cause of hogs being considered filthy animals. The 
chicken, which we consider so very clean, will eat any thing 
that a hog will ; and the horse, which we consider so noble 



22G MORALITY OF JESUS CIIRIST 

an animal, is fond of eating dirt, and of rolling therein. It 
has also, I suppose, been the cause of millions of the human 
family debarring themselves the use of hog's flesh as food. 
As I do not believe that Jesus was ever guilty of any such 
conduct, I shall copy here no more of the sketches of his 
biographers. 

The celebrated philosopher Cicero said, — 
" The knowledge of truth is a man's highest attainment, 
and the object most worthy of man's researches. Those 
who seek this knowledge are termed philosophers ; and 
philosophy consists in the love of truth. To investigate and 
prove the truth, seems to be the province of man. Have 
we discharged the office of judging for ourselves? Are we 
freed from the ascendency of those impressions which had 
been forced upon us, and do we no longer think it incum- 
bent to defend our erroneous prepossessions ? This is to 
be truly free. But most men have been drilled into a habit 

of belief before they were able to exercise their reason in 

• 

judging of truth. We have been insensibly trained in de- 
pravity ; we have been so far involved in error as to sepa- 
rate the idea of goodness from that of utility, and the idea of 
truth from that of reality ; so far have we been led to deviate 
from reason as to believe in a goodness different from moral 
propriety, and hold the faith that there is a truth more 
to be regarded than natural fact. Never could men con- 
ceive opinions at the same time so false and pernicious, 
so fatal to good sense and right motives of conduct. Rea- 
son and truth should be more regarded by us than opinion. 
He is sufficiently enlightened who knows how to act rightly, 
and who has the power to refrain from evil. Injustice 
committed either by violence or deception is alike unwor- 
thy of man ; but fraud seems to be the more odious means 
of the two." 



AND TIIE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 227 

That wisest and best of men, Confucius, said, — 
" The sovereign good consists in an entire conformity 
with correct reason, both in our opinions and in our propen- 
sities. We should let our reason, and not our passions, be 
the rule of our conduct ; for reason will lead us to think 
correctly, to speak sensibly, and to act justly. Correctness 
of judgment determines us towards truth, and inclines us 
to yield to whatever is consistent with reason. Those who 
prize truth and constantly make it their object of pursuit, 
who seek to discover their errors and are bent on cor- 
recting them, are rightly called philosophers. Those pre- 
tended sages, whose vanity leads them to affect a knowl- 
edge of what is beyond comprehension, adopt a part in 
which they are sure to miscarry." 

Democritus, one of the greatest philosphers of antiquity, 
was born at Abdera, a town of Thrace, about four hundred 
and ninety years, according to Anthon, — others say, four 
hundred and sixty, or four hundred and seventy years, — 
before Jesus Christ. It has been said that he laughed at 
human life in general, which appears to be a better course 
than that taken by Heraclitus, who is said to have wept 
continually over it ; for it is certainly more agreeable, as 
well as more conducive to health, to laugh than to weep, 
especially as a great part of the evils we endure are 
brought on us by our own bad conduct, folly, and vanity. 
Democritus said, " The end of all our moral attainments 
is tranquillity of mind. Tranquillity or peace of mind, 
which is also called wisdom, is a thing so desirable, that its 
value is beyond all estimate : possessing it, we wonder at 
nothing ; we fear nothing ; and we enjoy every thing ; for, 
when we know how properly to frame our manners, order 
our actions, and moderate our desires, we are continually 
happy." 



228 MORALITY OF JESUS CIIRIST 

Diogenes was born about four hundred and thirteen 
years before Jesus Christ, at Sinope, a city of Pontus, and 
died at Corinth, aged about ninety years. Some of his 
maxims : — 

" The end of life is a just use of our reason in the per- 
ception of natural ideas, and in rejecting unnatural notions. 
The end of philosophy is to subdue the passions, and qual- 
ify us for every condition of life : no event can happen for 
which the philosopher is not prepared. Liberty is the 
greatest good, and the foundation of all the rest." To one 
who reviled him he said, " No one will believe you when 
you speak ill of me, any more than they would believe me 
if I were to speak well of you." 

He said, when he looked upon seamen, men of physical 
science, and philosophers, that man was the wisest of all 
beings ; but when he looked upon priests, prophets, and 
interpreters of dreams, that nothing was so contemptible as 
man. He was taken by pirates and carried to Crete, where 
he was exposed to sale in the public market. When the 
auctioneer asked him what he could do, he said, " I can gov- 
ern men ; therefore sell me to one who wants a master." 
Xeniades, a wealthy Corinthian, happening at that instant to 
pass by, was struck with the singularity of his reply, and 
purchased him. On their arrival at Corinth, Xeniades 
gave him his freedom, and committed to him the education 
of his children, and the direction of his domestic concerns. 

Epicurus, Lempriere says, the greatest philosopher of 
his age, was born at Gargettus, in Attica, about three hun- 
dred and forty years before Jesus Christ. Some of the 
many excellent maxims attributed by different writers to 
Epicurus : — 

" Philosophy is the right exercise of reason, in the pur- 
suit and attainment of a happy life. A happy life consists 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 229 

in tranquillity of mind and health of body. To correct the 
disorders of the mind, no one is either too young or too old ; 
and he who pretends that the time for reflection is not yet 
come, or is past, is as he who says that the time to live 
well and happy either is not yet come, or is quite gone. It 
is not in poetic fiction, but in the great expanse of nature, 
lying open to observation, that the proper field exists for 
making our researches after truth. A man of sense will 
not allow himself to be beguiled by the sophistries of ora- 
tory ; and as he exacts no more from grammar than con- 
gruity, so neither will he require more from rhetoric than 
perspicuity ; but he will confine himself to the use of a plain 
and familiar style. The acquisition of knowledge is so 
solid a good in itself, that it can never be lost. As nothing 
ought to be deemed more valuable than truth, we should pro- 
ceed towards its discovery by the most direct and natural 
means, neither devising any fictions ourselves, nor suffering 
ourselves to be imposed upon by poets, priests, or logicians. 
The scholar profanes the honor of his profession when he 
abandons truth and entertains notions that are fabulous, or 
mounts up into the supernatural ; for, as philosophy is noth- 
ing else than a due inquiry into nature, fiction can only 
prove an obstacle to the attainment of a true insight into 
facts. Truth is that which exists in the nature of things ; 
it is that very thing which is, and no other. I am ashamed 
of human imbecility, when it fetcheth divination even out 
of dreams ; as if an imp-god, if such can be fancied, hop- 
ping from bed to bed, did admonish snoring persons, by 
whispering to them visions of what would happen to them 
shortly. As to prophecies and miracles, it may be evinced, 
every way, that all such lies are the mere preached impos- 
ture of priests. Morals comprise the whole range of hu- 
man conduct; the practice of justice forms the most weighty 
20 



230 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

obligation of man towards man, and justice consists in com- 
mitting no injury against the person, property, or character 
of another. The highest intellectual acquirements consist in 
the sagacious, assiduous, courageous exercise of our reason, 
or intelligent faculties, by which we attain a knowledge of 
the actual condition of our physical being, and the correct 
sense of properly or happily conducting ourselves through 
life. Every animal, as soon as born, naturally seeks enjoy- 
ment, and esteems it as the chief good, and each also re- 
gards pain as the greatest evil, and to its utmost ability shuns 
it. The object of life, by the tacit consent of all men, is 
felicity ; and since almost all miss that end, must it not be 
the fact, that they use not the right means to attain it ? Su- 
preme enjoyment exists in morals, and in freedom of life, 
when it is consistent with the dictates of reason. Temper- 
ance, or the regulation of our desires and passions, enables 
us to enjoy pleasure, without suffering any consequent in- 
convenience. When we say that pleasure is the sovereign 
good — enjoyment the chief end of life — we are far from 
meaning the pleasures, or rather the indulgences of volup- 
tuousness, or that which consists in gross, excessive, and 
pernicious gratifications, as some have ignorantly or ma- 
liciously represented ; for it is not riot and dissipation, nor 
the other consuming excitements of the senses, which render 
life pleasant ; but it is the sober exercise of reason, which 
inquires into the nature of those things which are to be 
desired or avoided, and banishes ignorance, doubt, and fear. 
It cannot be expressed how great unhappiness mankind 
have drawn upon themselves by imagining such phantoms 
as gods, and attributing to them wrath and severity ; by 
reason whereof men's minds being dejected, every one trem- 
bles when any phenomena happens which he thinks indi- 
cates the anger of his God, and his intention to punish or 
awe him, poor miserable man." 



AND TIIE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 231 

Epicurus, in speaking of Plato, said, — 

"With what eyes could Plato look upon the infinite 
world, and conceive it comprehended — finite — made and 
built by a fancied comprehender or God ? What materials, 
what diagrams, what engines, what assistants in the inter- 
minable job? How reach infinity? — infinity with which 
the vastest extent comprehended by the imagination cannot 
compare in ratio. But what is most remarkable, he gives 
us a world created, or having a beginning in time, and yet 
affirms it to be eternal. Can we admit him to have had 
the right use of his reason, who was capable of thinking a 
thing to be everlasting, and yet to have had a commence- 
ment ?" 

Heraclitus, a celebrated Ephesian philosopher, who flour- 
ished about five hundred years before Jesus Christ, said, — 

" From nothing nothing can be derived. The world is 
the infinite material existence, which was neither made by 
gods nor men, but necessarily always was and will be. The 
individual bodies which compose the world, in their respec- 
tive durations, and which connect the eternal series of their 
several kinds, have both beginning and end. In the action 
of the universe, or infinite medium of existence, there is no 
such thing as stop or rest. Nothing in nature perishes, nor 
is there any thing new ever produced ; but all the phenom- 
ena of formation and dissolution are merely changes in the 
forms of bodies. The faculty of reason, exercised on the 
perception of that which is around us, is the judge of truth. 
The end of life is to render it happy while it endures. Con- 
tentment is the sovereign good. The greatest triumph is 
to obtain the mastery of ourselves." Deriding the sacri- 
fices by which it was believed the gods were appeased, he 
said, "These devotees think themselves cleansed by pol- 
luting themselves with blood — as if a man should wallow 
in filth, as a means of purification." 



232 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

Titus Cams Lucretius, a Roman philosopher and poet, 
was born about ninety-six years before Jesus Christ. His 
poem has been translated into English. He says, — 

" In the slow lapse of time even the aspect of the world 
changes ; not any thing remains perpetually the same. All 
that our senses behold — the sky, the earth, and the sea — 
all is as nothing, if we attempt to compare it with the 
boundless immensity — the infinity. All ideas of reality 
or truth are derived from the senses. Do we not see that 
all which nature requires is a body exempt from pain, and 
a sane mind — a mind freed from terrors and anxieties ? 
If our minds are not well regulated, to what trouble and 
what perils are we not exposed in spite of ourselves ? Li- 
centiousness is a source from which flows so bitter a stream 
that it destroys the flowers of pleasure." 

In his poem, Lucretius not only controverts all the popu- 
lar notions of heathenism, but even that point which is 
fundamental in every system of religious faith — the exist- 
ence of a great first cause. 

Phocylides, a Greek poet of Miletus, lived about five 
hundred and forty years before Jesus Christ. Among a 
great many other things, he said, — 

" Be not troubled about past evils ; it is impossible that 
what has already happened should be recalled. Eat, drink, 
sleep, and talk with restriction ; practise moderation in all 
things ; in every thing avoid excess. In all thou sayest, 
adhere to truth ; permit not thy mouth in lying ; have not 
one statement in thy heart, and another on thy lips. Re- 
spect chastity; never betray thy trust ; regard the purity 
of tender maids ; do not even take them rudely by the 
hand. Such are the laws of morality. Conform thy con- 
duct thereto, and happiness will attend thee even to the 
close of life. ,, 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 

The philosopher Plato died at Athens about three hun- 
dred and forty-eight years before the birth of Jesus Christ, 
at the age of eighty-one years. His writings were numer- 
ous; and among the great many things which he said, 
(some very good, and some not so good, and some very 
questionable,) are the following, which I think are good : — 

" Nothing is more pleasing to a sound mind than to speak 
and hear truth. Happy is he who, even in his latter days, 
is able to perceive truth and arrive at wisdom. The natu- 
ral world is infinite and eternal ; the universe was not called 
into being from nonentity : from nothing nothing can pro- 
ceed. The proper science of man, or morals, consists in 
knowing how to think and live according to nature. Good 
impressions are means which may lead to virtue ; good in 
practice is virtue ; and this is the perfection of nature, and 
the most excellent of all advantages; for in it consists the 
happiness of life. Knowledge without virtue ought to be 
deemed cunning, rather than wisdom. As injustice gener- 
ally prevails in trade, it ought to be impressed upon the 
feelings of every merchant, that it is improper to ask two 
prices, or to commend falsely that which is exposed for 
sale. We should so live, that none will believe those who 
speak ill of us." Some one remarked that he seemed as 
desirous to learn himself as to teach others, and asked him 
how long he intended to remain a pupil. He replied, " As 
long as I shall not be ashamed to improve in wisdom and 
goodness." 

Pythagoras, one of the greatest philosophers of antiquity, 
was born at Samos about five hundred and ninety years be- 
fore Jesus Christ, and died aged about ninety-three years. 
His Golden Verses have been published. The following 
are some, among many, of his moral and philosophical 
maxims : — 

20* „ 



234 MORALITY OP JESUS CHRIST 

"Mankind have ever lived, and the genus man never 
had a beginning. Death is the destiny of all men. It is 
the province of science to be conversant with those objects 
that are immutable and eternal in their nature, and which, 
therefore, can alone properly be said to exist. The end of 
philosophy is to free the mind from those impediments which 
hinder its progress in attaining the knowledge of nature, 
and to raise it to the contemplation of immutable truth. 
The most important branch of instruction is to inform the 
mind concerning good and evil. Let uprightness influence 
you in all your actions, and be sincere in whatever you say ; 
let reason be your guide even in the smallest matters." 

A few of the moral precepts and maxims of the seven 
wise men of Greece: — 

1st. Thales, the chief of the seven sages of Greece, was 
born at Miletus, about six hundred and forty years before 
Jesus Christ, and died at the advanced age of ninety-five 
years. 

" Necessity is all-powerful — space infinite. Pleasure of 
body consists in health, and felicity of mind in knowledge. 
Health, competency, and intelligence form the chief sources 
of happiness. Indolence is irksome, intemperance injurious, 
and ignorance intolerable. Happy is the family that abounds 
not in too great affluence, and that is sufficiently removed 
from the reach of poverty. In order to live justly and 
be respected, we must abstain from doing that w T e blame 
in others : whatever we know to be right, that we should 
do. The most difficult thing is to know ourselves ; the 
easiest, to give advice. It will help us to bear our own 
ill fortune, if we reflect on the greater misfortunes of others. 
Take pains to correct the blemishes of the mind rather 
than those of the face. That commonwealth is best circum- 
stanced in which the citizens are neither excessively rich 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 235 

nor exceedingly poor. Monarchy, in every shape, is but 
tyranny." 

2d. Solon, one of the seven sages of Greece, born at 
Athens, about five hundred and fifty-eight years before 
Jesus Christ. He distinguished himself early by his great 
courage and bright parts, which raised him to the govern- 
ment of his country. He died at the age of about eighty 
years. 

" Know thyself. As long as thou shalt live, seek to im- 
prove thyself; presume not that old age brings with it wis- 
dom : it is better to learn late than never. Make reason 
your guide ; give to serious subjects their due consideration. 
In every thing you do, consider the end. Voluptuous in- 
dulgences only occasion pain, and they ought to be avoided." 
To one who excused himself for lying in jest he replied, 
" These jests will become serious falsehoods : what shall 
circumscribe our tongue if we pass the limits of truth ? " 

3d. Chilo, one of the seven wise men of Greece, died 
about five hundred and ninety-seven years before the time 
of Jesus Christ. 

" To be provident for the future, and to be guided by 
reason, is the virtue of man. Death itself is less horrible 
than the phantom in whose shape our fancy is accustomed 
to regard it. Do not desire impossibilities. No acquire- 
ment is more difficult than self-knowledge. Self-love al- 
ways exaggerates our merits in our own estimation. Hon- 
est loss is preferable to dishonest gain ; for by the one a 
man suffers but once ; by the other his suffering is lasting." 

4th. Pittacus, one of the wise men of Greece, born about 
six hundred and fifty years before Jesus Christ, was a na- 
tive of Mitylene, and died at about the age of seventy-one 
years. 

" The first office of prudence is to foresee impending 



236 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

evils, and prevent them. The gods themselves, if gods 
there were, must be subject to necessity. Whatever you 
do, do it well. Do not that to your neighbor which you 
would take ill from him. Power discovers a man. It is 
against nature to love an enemy. Addict thyself to sobri- 
ety. An equal marriage is best. I am pleased with the 
abode which exhibits nothing superfluous, and where I find 
every thing that is necessary." 

5th. Bias, one of the seven wise men of Greece, was 
born at Priene, a town in Caria, about five hundred and 
seventy years before Jesus Christ. Though born to great 
wealth, he lived without splendor, expending his fortune in 
relieving the needy. On one occasion, certain pirates 
brought several young women to sell as slaves at Priene. 
Bias purchased them, and maintained them until he had 
an opportunity to return them to their friends. This gen- 
erous action caused him to be styled " the prince of wise 
men." 

" A good conscience only is superior to fear. We should 
so live as though our life might be long or short. It is a 
proof of a weak and uninformed mind to desire immortal- 
ity ; which is morally impossible. Those who busy them- 
selves in acquiring vain knowledge, resemble owls, which 
see only in the night, but the light blinds them." 

6th. Cleobulus, one of the seven wise men of Greece, 
died about five hundred and sixty years before the birth of 
Jesus Christ, was a native of Lindus, in the Island of 
Rhodes, son of Evagoras, monarch of that city, and claim- 
ing descent from Hercules, he ascended the throne on the 
death of his father. 

" Avoid excess. Be acquainted with virtue, but a stran- 
ger to vice. Knowledge is preferable to ignorance. Be 
moderate in your pleasures. If rich, be not exalted ; if 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 237 

poor, be not dejected ; hold injustice in horror; bridle thy 
tongue; do nothing with violence ; compose quarrels; in- 
struct thy children. Such is the character of virtue." 

7th. Periander, son of Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth, he 
succeeded his father in the sovereign power. He has been 
considered, though rejected by some, as one of the seven 
sages of Greece. He died about five hundred and eighty- 
eight years before the birth of Jesus Christ. 

" Industry overcomes almost every obstacle. Prudence 
can accomplish much. Repose is agreeable, temerity is 
dangerous, avarice base. Sensuality supplies but a mo- 
mentary enjoyment ; the pleasures of virtue are durable. 
In prosperity be moderate, in -adversity prudent. Dis- 
grace not your parents. Be not content with reproving 
those who commit faults ; restrain those who are about to 
commit them. Be the same towards your friends, whether 
they be fortunate or unfortunate." 

Sophists, the name given (so says Noah Webster) to a 
class of men who taught eloquence, philosophy, and poli- 
tics, in ancient Greece, and who, by their vain subtilties 
and false axioms, drew upon themselves general hatred and 
contempt. Sophistry signifies (so Noah Webster says) fal- 
lacious reasoning; reasoning sound in appearance only. 
Sophomore. This word, says Mr. Goodrich, has generally 
been considered as an American barbarism, but was prob- 
ably introduced into our country, at an early period, from 
the University of Cambridge, England. Among the cant 
terms of that university, we find Soph-Mor, as "the next 
distinctive appellation to Fresh-man." The younger sophs 
at Cambridge appear formally to have received the adjunct 
mor to their name, either as one which they courted, or as 
one given them in sport, for the supposed exhibition of 
inflated feeling in entering on their new honors. The term 



238 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

thus applied seems to have passed at a very early period 
from Cambridge in England to Cambridge in America, 
as " the next distinctive appellation to freshman," and thus 
to have been attached to the second of the four classes in 
our American colleges ; while it has now almost ceased to 
be known, even as a cant word, at the parent institution in 
England, from whence it came. It is said that a writer in 
the Gentleman's Magazine thinks that mor was introduced 
at a time when the Praise of Folly, by Erasmus, was so 
generally in use. 

I have repeatedly stated, that my leading object is, to get 
people to examine, to think for themselves ; not to allow, 
much less to hire, others to think for them. With that view 
I introduced the foregoing three words, sophists, sophistry, 
sophomore, and their meanings, or supposed meanings, that 
it may be seen, by proper examination, whether those words 
and their said meanings, when they are applied to persons 
and things as they generally are applied to, do correctly 
represent such persons and things to the mind of those to 
whom they are presented; and if not, whether it is not 
better, when we are learning, to learn things principally, 
and words so far as will express and explain such things, 
than to learn to string together many fine words, which do 
not convey to the mind a distinct idea of any thing. 

The following are precepts of the seven sophists, collected 
by Sociades : — 

1. Understand what thou learnest. 

2. Comprehend what thou nearest. 

3. Wishing to marry, avail thyself of opportunity. 

4. Command thyself. 

5. Relieve the wants of your friends. 

6. Apply thyself to discipline. 

7. Emulate the wise. 



AND THE ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS. 239 

8. Disparage none. 

9. Do what is just. 

10. Husband thy time. 

11. Shun deceit. 

12. Determine quickly. 

13. Abstain from bloodshed. 

14. Defer not to give what thou intendest. 

15. Envy none ; eschew calumny. 

16. Be on your guard. 

17. Enjoy what thou possessest. 

18. Be modest in thy deportment. 

19. Return benefits. 

20. Hearing, understand. 

21. Aim only at knowledge that may be acquired. 

22. Give no occasion for reproach. 

23. Curb thy tongue. 

24. Repel attempts to be injurious. 

25. Decide not rashly. 

26. "Wait and see the end. 

27. Converse mildly. 

28. Be civil to all. 

29. Do that whereof thou shalt not repent. 

30. Counsel profitably. 

31. Accomplish quickly. 

32. Preserve amity. 

33. Dissolve enmities. 

34. Expect age. 

35. Boast not of strength. 

36. Confide not in wealth. 

37. Be not weary of learning. 

38. Be cautious of hazarding thyself. 

39. Instruct the young. 

40. Respect the aged. 



240 MORALITY OF JESUS CHRIST. 

41. Condole with the afflicted. 

42. Be not troubled upon every occasion. 

43. Promise never. 

44. Be, in childhood, modest ; in youth, temperate ; in 
manhood, just ; in old age, prudent. 

45. Live pleasantly. 

46. Die untroubled. 

In these forty-six precepts, what is there that can justly 
require their authors to be treated with " general hatred 
and contempt " ? Nothing. Yet we are told they were so 
treated. I do not doubt it, for the first, twenty-first, and 
forty-sixth, that is, " Understand what thou learnest," 
" Aim only at knowledge that may be acquired," " Die 
untroubled," which are perhaps three among the best in 
the selection, are quite enough to arouse the " hatred and 
contempt " of priests ; and those whom the clergy hate, 
every body must, of course, hate. Deductions drawn from 
common sense and correct reasoning are, the clergy would 
fain make us believe, the most abominable sophistries; 
while they are endeavoring incessantly to force upon us 
mysteries, dreams, and faith, as sound and profound logic. 



INFIDEL — WASHINGTON. 241 



CHAPTER XXVI, 

INEIDEL. —WASHINGTON. 

Infidel is a word much used by the clergy of every de- 
nomination of religion. They use it as a reproach, and you 
must know the religious creed of him who uses the term, 
before you can determine whether you come under his ban 
or not ; for if your creed does not agree with his creed, or 
if you have no creed, then you are of those by him pro- 
scribed. Many clergymen now pretend to narrow down 
their meaning of the word infidel to such as do not believe 
the existence of a God, and the immortality of the soul ; 
yet they very liberally apply the term infidel to all deists, 
who certainly believe the existence of a God, and, most of 
them, the immortality of the soul ; such deists as Hobbes, 
Blount, Toland, Tindal, Chubb, Lord Bolingbroke, Hume, 
Gibbon, "William Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Voltaire, 
Rousseau, Condorcet, Volney, Frederic II. of Prussia, 
Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, &c. — men 
whose works and exertions in society have done and will 
continue to do, in my opinion, more towards happifying 
mankind, both morally and physically, than those of all the 
clergy that have existed on the earth during the last fifteen 
hundred years. 

I am not one of those who think that because a man is 
good and wise, his opinion ought, without being submitted 
to the test of reason and common sense, to be taken as 
proof of the correctness of any subject, most particularly 
any position which involves a supposed error, or correct- 
21 



242 INFIDEL WASHINGTON. 

ness, in what is denominated religion ; for I do not recol- 
lect that there ever has come to my notice any thing under 
the name of religion, no matter how ridiculous and irra- 
tional, which has not been embraced by some good and wise 
men. But as there are those who seem to think that, if 
they can only connect the name of some good and wise 
person with a position which they wish* to establish or de- 
fend, then the proof in favor of such position is complete ; 
and some such persons have, ever since the death of Gen- 
eral Washington, claimed him to have been a professing 
Christian. I shall, in defence of truth, which the good of 
society requires, and of justice, which is due to the dead as 
well as to the living, endeavor to show his sentiments on 
what is called religion, so far as they were publicly known. 
The Rev. Dr. Wilson, of Albany, New York, preached a 
sermon, Sunday, October 23, 1831, to his congregation, in 
which he gave the religious character of every President of 
the United States, from Washington to Jackson, inclusive. 
The substance of that sermon was published in the Albany 
Daily Advertiser. Dr. Wilson's remarks on the character 
of Washington were, — 

" Washington was a man of valor and wisdom. He was 
esteemed by the whole world as a great and good man ; 
but he was not a professing Christian, at least not till after 
he was President. When the Congress sat in Philadelphia, 
President Washington attended the Episcopal church. The 
rector, Dr. Abercrombie, told me that on the days when 
the sacrament of the Lord's supper was to be administered, 
Washington's custom was to rise just before the ceremony 
commenced, and walk out of church. This became a sub- 
ject of remark in the congregation, as setting a bad exam- 
ple. At length the doctor undertook to speak of it, with 
a direct allusion to the President. Washington was heard 



INFIDEL — WASHINGTON. 243 

afterwards to remark that this was the first time a clergy- 
man had thus preached to him, and he should henceforth 
neither trouble the doctor nor his congregation on such 
occasions ; and ever after that, upon communion days, he 
absented himself altogether from the church." 

In November following the above publication, Mr. Rob- 
ert Dale Owen passed through Albany on his way to Indi- 
ana; and in a letter dated Albany, November 13, 1831, 
to Amos Gilbert, which letter was published in New York, 
December 3, 1831, by Mr. Gilbert, he says,— 

" I called last evening on Dr. Wilson, as I told you I 
should, and I have seldom derived more pleasure from a 
short interview with any one. Unless my discernment of 
character has been grievously at fault, I met an honest man 
and sincere Christian. But you shall have the particulars. 
A gentleman of this city accompanied me to the doctor's 
residence. We were very courteously received, and found 
him a tall, commanding figure, with a countenance of much 
benevolence, and a brow indicative of deep thought, appar- 
ently approaching fifty years of age. I opened the inter- 
view by stating, that though personally a stranger to him, I 
had taken the liberty of calling in consequence of having 
perused an interesting sermon of his, which had been re- 
ported in the Daily Advertiser of this city, and regarding 
which, as he probably knew, a variety of opinions pre- 
vailed. In a discussion, in which I had taken a part, some 
of the facts, as there reported, had been questioned ; and I 
wished to know from him whether the reporter had fairly 
given his words, or not. <I especially allude,' I added, 'to 
the evidence which regarded Washington's scepticism.' 

" i I will willingly furnish,' he replied, 'such information 
as I possess. May I be allowed to ask to whom I have the 
pleasure of speaking ? ' ' Certainly. My name is Owen. 



244 INFIDEL — WASHINGTON. 

' Robert Dale Owen?' 'The same.' Perhaps a slight 
cloud passed over the good man's countenance, and there 
was a certain hesitation in his reply ; but if so, the shadow 
was but of a moment. His brow cleared, and he soon pro- 
ceeded in the same mild, collected manner as before. ■ Mr. 
Owen, I cannot be ignorant why the question is asked me. 
I know what is gained to your cause by substantiating the 
scepticism of Washington. But truth is truth, whether it 
makes for us or against us. The cause to which I have 
devoted my life cannot be injured by the dissemination of 
truth.' ' Dr. Wilson/ said I, ' we differ in opinion on some 
subjects ; but let me at the least assure you that I respect 
the principle which induced you to say what you have just 
said, and that I honor the honesty which every man of 
common discernment must see dictated the sermon to which 
I have alluded. I hope that under similar circumstances, I 
myself shall ever act as candid a part.' The doctor bowed : 
* It is pleasant to me to have my motives fairly judged, 
especially when it is so easy for party purposes to misrep- 
resent them.' I again alluded to the sermon, and he said 
that if I would read to him any particular portion of it, as 
reported, he would inform me at once whether it was cor- 
rectly given or not. I then read to him, from a copy of the 
Daily Advertiser, the paragraph which regards Washing- 
ton, beginning, ' Washington was a man/ &c, and ending, 
i absented himself altogether from the church/ 1 1 indorse/ 
said Dr. Wilson, with emphasis, ' every word of that. Nay, 
I do not wish to conceal from you any part of the truth, 
even what I have not given to the public. Dr. Abercrom- 
bie said more than I have repeated.' At the close of our 
conversation on the subject, his emphatic expression was, — 
for I well remember the very words, — t Sir, Washington 
was a deist ! Now, Mr. Owen, I have diligently perused 



WOKSHIP — CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 



245 



every line that Washington ever gave to the puhlic, and I 
do not find an expression in which he pledges himself as a 
professor of Christianity. I think any man who- will can- 
didly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that 
he was a deist, and nothing more. I do not take upon me 
to say positively that he was, but that is my opinion.' 
has been mine, doctor, for some time ; and I have been not 
a little abused for expressing it. I am the more pleased, 
therefore, to find confirmation from so respectable a source. 
Dr. Wilson then adverted to the fact, already published in 
Jefferson's Memoirs, that the clergy, in an address to Wash- 
ington, endeavored, but in vain, to draw out his opinions 
touching the Christian religion." 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

WORSHIP.— CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

Is it not strange that good and wise persons should ever 
have imbibed the idea, that an infinitely wise, infinitely 
powerful, and infinitely good, and, of course, infinitely happy 
being, if there be such a being, requires any beings, much 
less beings which he himself had made, to worship him? 
Can finite beings, by their worship, make infinity more 
infinite, or, by the default of such worship, lessen infinity? 
The idea of worship originated in fear. Self-protection and 
defence is a just law of nature, but, like every other good, 
has been, and is most shamefully perverted. The strong 
and the crafty, instead of merely protecting themselves, 
21* 



246 



WORSHIP — CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 



have frequently used their strength and craft to subject and 
oppress their fellow-beings, by exacting from them obsequi- 
ousness, amounting, at least in form, to worship ; and those 
who are the most ready to subserve tyranny and injustice, 
become favorites with these oppressors, while such as are 
less tractable are oftentimes unjustly and tyrannically pun- 
ished. And to render this adulation habitual, and to insure 
its continuance, certain ceremonies and fine expressions and 
titles are invented ; the omission, or what may be consid- 
ered, by the assumed expounder, an improper application 
of any of these, is most rigorously punished. The fear of 
such punishments made the mass conform to the exactions 
of rulers and priests, until habit rendered it apparently nat- 
ural. Now, an infinite being cannot entertain any such 
motives. He cannot be afraid of losing any of his power. 
There is no power any where that can diminish it ; nor can 
his happiness, by any act or omission of ours, be either ad- 
vanced or retarded, augmented or diminished. Of course, 
our words and acts towards him, if he notices them at all, 
must be noticed with indifference. That a being infinitely 
wise and infinitely good will, or ever did, either grant or 
withhold any thing, because he was asked or prayed so to 
do, I do not believe. Ask what we may, it is either right 
or it is wrong that we should have it. If right, such a 
being would certainly give it, whether asked or not; if 
wrong, he certainly would not grant it, though ever so ear- 
nestly asked or prayed so to do. 

It is in just systems of civil government that mankind 
will find an improvement, a continual advancement towards 
perfection, in their physical and moral condition ; therefore 
one honest, well-informed, talented, and active politician is 
of more intrinsic value to society than all the clergy and 
systems of religion that can be instituted. In the letter of 



WORSHIP — CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 247 

Mr. Owen which I have quoted, recounting the conversa- 
tion which took place between Dr. Wilson and himself, he 
relates the following : — 

" Mr. Owen," said Dr. "Wilson in continuation, " having 
gone so far, I wish distinctly to explain to you why I have 
taken the course which in the sermon in question I have 
taken. I believe, firmly and honestly, in the authenticity 
of the Bible. I believe in the efficacy of its doctrines to 
save the world. I believe in the vast importance of its 
being recognized by the nation as a guide of conduct. It 
is not so recognized at present ; it never will be so recog- 
nized, so long as infidels " The doctor hesitated. " I 

speak plainly, Mr. Owen, and hope I give no offence." I 
smiled. "You need not fear, Dr. Wilson; nothing you 
are saying will offend me." " Well, then, to speak the un- 
varnished truth, I see plainly that the Bible never will be 
recognized as the nation's guide so long as infidels are its 
rulers. Since its very commencement as a republic, infidels 
have been its rulers ; and here we may see the true cause 
why, at this moment, the Bible is comparatively set aside 
by the nation. I wish to show that this has been the cause, 
and that while the cause continues, the effect will continue 
also. This is my reason for taking the course I have done, 
and incurring reproach in consequence." 

In the sermon of Dr. Wilson herein before quoted, he 
says, — 

"When the war was over, and the victory over our 
enemies won, and the blessings and happiness of liberty 
and peace were secured, the constitution was framed, and 
God was neglected. He was not merely forgotten — he 
was absolutely voted out of the constitution. The pro- 
ceedings, as published by Thompson, the secretary, and the 
history of the day, show that the question was gravely 



248 WORSHIP — CIVIL GOVERNMENT. 

debated in Congress, whether God should be in the consti- 
tution or not ; and after a solemn debate he was deliberately 
voted out of it." " The men whose arguments swayed to 
vote God out of the constitution, to declare that there 
should be no religious test, that Congress should make no 
law to establish religion, &c, were atheists in principle. 
They had also their own ambitious ends in view — were 
worldly-minded men ; they sought for worldly honors and 
distinctions. Some of them were deists — blasphemers of 
the Son of God — of the stamp of Tom Paine, in his Age 
of Reason, or blind Palmer. They would therefore neither 
acknowledge nor honor him or his religion." " There is 
not only in the theory of your government no recognition 
of God's laws and sovereignty ; but its practical operation, 
its administration, has been conformable to its theory. 
Those who have been called to administer the government 
have not been men making any public profession of Chris- 
tianity." " Having noticed all the Presidents, I may re- 
mark," said the preacher, " that were we to look into the 
other departments of the general and state governments, and 
among the members of Congress, we should find the same 
deplorable disregard of religion among them. I am told 
that Mr. Frelinghuysen, the worthy senator from New Jer- 
sey, states that out of all the members of the two houses 
of last Congress he could only find seven who were willing 
to join him in the prayer meetings." 

If the statements here made by this seemingly honest 
clergyman be correct, or nearly approaching the truth, they 
show conclusively that we ought to commit, and to continue 
in all time to come, our government to the management of 
infidels ; for, according to Dr. Wilson's testimony, it has been 
principally managed by infidels more than sixty years ; and 
it is certain that no other government on earth has so im- 



CONSTITUTION CONVENTION. 249 

proved the physical and moral condition of its own citizens, 
and contributed so much to the enlightenment of mankind 
in general, as has this government, said to be all that time 
under the management of infidels, while in other countries 
the government is principally managed, if not altogether 
controlled, by what is called religion, where religion is es- 
tablished by law, where the clergy, who are the expounders 
of religion, are paid by the government at the expense of 
the people, and where the clergy deceive the people and 
render them subservient to unjust and tyrannical govern- 
ment. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE CONVENTION THAT MADE THE UNITED 
STATES CONSTITUTION. 

We have in the proceedings of the Convention that 
framed the constitution of the United States corroborative 
evidence of the correctness of Dr. Wilson's opinions, repre- 
senting that our republican government has always been 
chiefly under the management of infidels. It has been 
frequently, within the last ten or twelve years, from the 
pulpit and from the stump, by clergymen and by dema- 
gogues,* who always tread close at the heels of the clergy, 



* I use the word demagogue as defined by Bailey, old English author- 
ity, and not as defined by Webster. Bailey defines it, " The head of a 
faction ; a ringleader of the rabble ; a popular and factious orator." 
Walker and Johnson both say, " A leader of the rabble." Webster de- 
fines it, " A leader of the people ; an orator who pleases the populace, 
and influences them to adhere to him." The people are influenced by 



250 THE CONVENTION THAT MADE 

declared that when that Convention had been in session 
about four weeks there had been no progress made in its 
business; that the members thereof became agitated, got 
into confusion, and would have broken up without having 
accomplished any thing, but that a proposition was made 
and acceded to to open the proceedings of the Convention 
thereafter every morning with prayer, which, according to 
the assertions of those ignorant or hypocritical orators, was 
done ; and that, after that step was taken, every thing went 
smoothly. With respect to the Convention's adopting the 
ceremony of prayer, the statement is destitute of truth. 
When the Convention had been in session about four weeks 
Dr. Franklin did propose that the Convention thereafter 
should every morning be opened with prayer ; but the 
proposition was not voted on, and therefore died a natural 
death ; and no attempt was made to revive it. This propo- 
sition was made by a deist, Dr. Franklin. Of course, so 
far as he was concerned, the prayers would not have been 
addressed to the Bible God. General Washington, whom 
the clergy are so fond of claiming as a zealous Christian, 
was president of that Convention ; yet it does not appear 
that he at any time said a word in favor of the proposal. 
In Franklin's Works, Sparks's edition, Note by Dr. Frank- 
lin — " The Convention, except three or four persons, 
thought prayers unnecessary." 

The constitution of the United States is the most valu- 
able work ever accomplished by man, so far as we have 



that Which they believe to be right ; the rabble are governed by their 
factious passions, without milch regard to right or wrong. An orator 
may please the people and induce them to follow him, and not be a dema- 
gogue ; for he may be laboring in the cause of truth and justice, and 
the people may be pleased with him, and sustain him ; yet he that is 
laboring in the cause of truth and justice is certainly no demagogue. 



THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. 251 

knowledge of the proceedings of mankind. It is the 
agent which has commenced the emancipation of all nations 
from those tyrannic chains with which kingcraft and priest- 
craft have bound and oppressed them at least fifteen hun- 
dred years ; and it will finally accomplish that great and 
glorious work ? and yet this invaluable boon was framed, 
completed, and presented to mankind without public prayer, 
and by men who " thought prayers unnecessary." 

Every friend to the physical and moral improvement of 
mankind will feel pleasure in knowing the names of the 
members of the Convention that framed and completed the 
constitution of the United States, and where they were 
from. Rufus King, Nathaniel Gorham, Caleb Strong, El- 
bridge Gerry, Massachusetts ; Robert Yates, Alexander 
Hamilton, John Lansing, Jr., New York ; David Brearly, 
William Churchill Houston, Governor Livingston, Jonathan 
Dayton, New Jersey ; Robert Morris, Thomas Fitzsimmons, 
James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, Benjamin Franklin, 
Thomas Mifflin, George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Pennsyl- 
vania; George Read, Richard Basset, Jacob Brown, Gun- 
ning Bedford, Jr., John Dickinson, Delaware ; James Mc- 
Henry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Carroll, 
Luther Martin, John Francis Merser, Maryland ; George 
Washington, (president of the Convention,) John Blair, 
George Mason, James Madison, Jr., Eclmond Randolph, 
George Wythe, James McClurg, Virginia ; Alexander Mar- 
tin, William Richardson Davie, Hugh Williamson, William 
Blount, North Carolina: John Rutledge, Charles Cotes- 
worth Pinkney, Charles Pinkney, Pierce Butler, South 
Carolina ; William Few, William Pierce, William Hous- 
ton, Abraham Baldwin, Georgia ; John Langdon. Nicholas 
Gilman, New Hampshire ; Roger Sherman, William Samuel 
Johnson, Connecticut. 



252 INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY IN CIVIL 
GOVERNMENTS. 

In all civil governments established by the people for the 
benefit of the whole people there is one influence that should 
be particularly guarded against ; that is, religious, or cleri- 
cal, influence. That influence has always been, by some 
means or other, introduced into every government, and in 
most instances assumed the control thereof; and it ever 
will be so, until the agents and representatives of the peo- 
ple become honest, candid, and virtuous enough to check 
the arrogance and to set aside the usurpations of the clergy. 
Mr. Jefferson, in a letter to Major John Cartwright, dated 
June 5, 1824, says, — 

" I was glad to find in your book a formal contradiction 
at length of the judiciary usurpation of legislative powers ; 
for such the judges have usurped in their repeated de- 
cisions, that Christianity is a part of the common law. 
The proof of the contrary which you have adduced is in- 
controvertible ; to wit, that the common law existed while 
the Anglo-Saxons were yet pagans, at a time when they 
had never yet heard the name of Christ pronounced, or 
knew that such a character had ever existed. But it may 
amuse you to show when and by what means they stole the 
law in upon us. In a case of quare impedit in the Year 
Book 34 H. G, folio 38, (anno 1458,) a question was made, 
how far the ecclesiastical law was to be respected in a com- 
mon law court. And Prisot, chief justice, gives his opinion 
in these words : i A tiel leis qu'ils de seint eglise ont en 



IN CIVIL GOVERNMENTS. 253 

ancien scripture covient a nous a donner credence ; car ceo 
common ley sur quels touts manners leis sont fondes. Et 
auxy, sir, nous sumus obleges de conustre lour ley de saint 
eglise : et semblablement ils sont obliges de conustre nostre 
ley. Et, sir, si poit apperer or a nous que l'evesque ad 
fait come un ordinary fera en tiel cas, adong nous devons 
ceo adjuger bon, ou auterment nemy,' &c. See S. C. Fitzh. 
Abr. Qu. imp. 89. Bro. ; Abr. Qu. imp. 12. Finch, in his 
first book, c. 3, is the first afterwards who quotes this case, 
and mistakes it thus : ' To such laws of the church as 
have warrant in holy scripture our law giveth credence ; ' 
and cites Prisot, mistranslating 'ancien scripture' into 
'holy scripture/ Whereas Prisot palpably says, 'To such 
laws as those of holy church have in ancient writing it is 
proper for us to give credence ; ' to wit, to their ancient 
written laws. This was in 1613, a century and a half after 
the dictum of Prisot. Wingate, in 1658, erects this false 
translation into a maxim of common law, copying the words 
of Finch, but citing Prisot. Wing. Max. 3. And Shep- 
pard, title ' Religion,' in 1 675, copies the same mistransla- 
tion, quoting the Y. B. Finch and Wingate. Hale ex- 
presses it in these words : • Christianity is parcel of the 
laws of England.' 1 Ventr. 293. 3 Keb. 607. But he 
quotes no authority. By these echoings and reechoings 
from one to another it had become so established in 1728 
that, in case the King vs. Woolston,* 2 Stra. 834, the 
court would not suffer it to be debated, whether to write 
against Christianity was punishable in the temporal courts 
at common law. Wood, therefore, 409, ventures still to 

* This Woolston here spoken of by Mr. Jefferson was an English di- 
vine, Thomas "Woolston. He was sentenced to imprisonment for pub- 
lishing a work which the court, from ignorance, or hypocrisy, termed 
blasphemous. He died in prison in 1733. 
22 



254 INFLUENCE OF THE CLERGY. 

vary the phrase, and say that all blasphemy and profane- 
ness are offences by the common law, and cites 2 Stra. 
Then Blackstone, in 1763, 4. 59, repeats the words of Hale, 
that ' Christianity is part of laws of England,' citing Ven- 
tris and Strange. And finally, Lord Mansfield, with a little 
qualification, in Evans's case, in 1767, says that ' the es- 
sential principles of revealed religion are part of the com- 
mon law.' Thus ingulfing Bible, Testament, and all, into 
the common law, without citing any authority. And thus 
we find this chain of authorities hanging link by link, one 
upon another, and all ultimately on one and the same 
book, and that a mistranslation of the words ' ancien scrip- 
ture p used by Prisot. Finch quotes Prisot ; Wingate does 
the same. Sheppard quotes Prisot, Finch, and Wingate. 
Hale cites nobody. The court in Woolston's case cite 
Hale. Wood cites Woolston's case. Blackstone quotes 
Woolston's case and Hale. And Lord Mansfield, like 
Hale, ventures on his own authority. Here I might defy 
the best read lawyer to produce another scrip of authority 
for this judiciary forgery ; and I might go on further to 
show how some of the Anglo-Saxon priests interpolated 
into the texts of Alfred's laws 20th, 21st, 22d, and 23d 
chapters of Exodus, and the 15th of the Acts of the Apos- 
tles, from the 23d to the 29th verse. But this would lead 
my pen and your patience too far. What a conspiracy this 
between church and state ! Sing Tantarara, rogues all, 
rogues all ! sing Tantarara, rogues all ! " 

This quotation from Mr. Jefferson shows some of the 
trickery and manoeuvring of the clergy for hundreds of 
years past. In late years, the same trickery and manoeu- 
vring has produced abolitionism, free soilism, higher lawism, 
anti-Nebraska billism, and every other ism that has been 
thrown into politics to embarrass the just proceedings of 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, 255 

our government ; for these isms are nothing more than the 
scum of the effervescence of clerical wrath against progress 
in government, and the consequent advancement of reason, 
independence, and virtue, in the mass of mankind ; which 
progress and advancement they well know would soon dis- 
pense with their impositions. When that is done, they may 
become useful citizens, by following some honest employ- 
ment ; those that are well educated may teach youths real 
science and correct morals, yet they may not find that as 
easy a task as teaching creeds; for Locke says, "It is 
easier to believe than to be scientifically instructed." 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

Since the establishment of the American constitutional 
government, American commerce has become extended to 
every part of what is called the civilized world, and the 
emigration from most of the nations to the United States is 
large, so that the intercourse between the Americans and 
the subjects of these nations has become frequent and ex- 
tensive, and by that intercourse the subjects of some of 
these nations, particularly Great Britain, France, and Ger- 
many, have become as well acquainted with the principles 
of justice and the rights of society, and what is necessary 
to sustain them, as were the inhabitants of the British col- 
onies, at the time they threw off the old state and church 
tyranny. But they are not so favorably circumstanced as 
were the Americans ; they are not divided into a number 



256 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 

of small states, each independent of the others in its do- 
mestic regulations, but willing to confederate with each 
other for self-defence, and the establishment of justice, 
right, and liberty, as were the American colonies. France 
has made several unsuccessful attempts to establish a gov- 
ernment for the people, by the people ; and unsuccessful 
they will be, so long as they attempt to establish a consoli- 
dated government. If that country was divided into about 
twelve — not less than eight — compact states, each inde- 
pendent of the other as to its domestic regulations, and 
would then form a union for self-defence and external reg- 
ulations, taking the American constitution as their model, 
they would find but little difficulty in becoming a self-gov- 
erned people. 

The same may be said of Great Britain and other large 
countries. If England, Scotland, and Wales were divided 
into about seven compact states, and Ireland into about 
three, then, by forming a union, and taking the American 
constitution as a model, the people of that country would 
soon become a self-governed and happy people. But, un- 
fortunately for mankind, these two powerful nations are 
each governed by a consolidated state and church tyranny. 
And from present appearances, there is but little hope that 
the people of either can obtain their rights but by rising 
en masse, and at the point of the bayonet put down their 
present unjust and oppressive government ; and when that 
is done, they ought not to attempt, if they wish to secure 
their liberty, to form a consolidated government. But be- 
fore they attempt to form a civil government, let them 
divide their nation into states, as before mentioned, and 
then proceed on the principle herein before recommended, 
and a solid foundation will be laid, on which they may se- 
curely seat Justice and Virtue, the parents of Happiness. 

3 4 7.7 1 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Feb. 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



